Kintsugi 金継ぎ
by Uzumaki D Narut0
Summary: Kintsugi 金継ぎ: The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold. Rather than being concealed and forgotten, cracks and breaks are shown and accepted as a vital part of the vessels past. SI-OC as one of Kakashi's dog summons. Inspired by the likes of Dreaming of Sunshine, Catch your breath and more.
1. Prologue arc: Enter, Hatake Sakumo

**AN: Hi, please, bear with my writing from earlier. It gets better as I move from pre-written/ semi pre-written content to newer work. That transition happens shortly.**

 **I tend to update weekly.**

 **Also: Warnings for- Childhood trauma, violence, gore and mentions of the darker aspects of shinobi life.**

* * *

 _"A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it's built for"_

* * *

 _Chapter 1: Enter, Hatake Sakumo_

* * *

 _If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, what my lousy childhood was like, how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth._

In my first life, I had one little sister.

Here, I have a grand total of nine brothers. We have not been named yet, but I know what we are going to be called: Pakkun, Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Ūhei, Guruko and, well, me, and another pup.

The fact that I had an extra to the pack, _well, discounting me,_ was as surprising as it was depressing. After all, since he didn't show up later on probably meant that in this cutthroat world of ours, he probably died.

 _Ouch_

Weirdly enough, I could feel cold, unwelcoming air outside of my mother's womb as soon as I could pay attention to it. My sense of taste was nearly as good as it had been in my last life, right after birth too.

I couldn't say the same for my other senses, though.

It seemed like a dog-thing or at least a ninken-thing, 'cause I wasn't exactly the only one who seemed to have taste and touch right out of the womb.

I felt like I was napping most of the time, to be honest. By that, I mean, while I _did_ nap a lot, almost all of my interactions at this age were not actually controlled by _me_. It was controlled by my _brain._

Normally, the maturity of your brain and soul is roughly equal; both your body and soul have the same number of memories after all. However, my young mind, couldn't keep up with my much more mature soul, and the corresponding memories, worldview, etcetera etcetera.

So, I spent much of my waking moments a little bit like if I was in my old world's most sophisticated cinema.

I watched over a long _, too long_ time as my vision slowly cleared, over the course of many, many sleeps (Technical measurement, right here. I didn't really have any other method for measuring time) and the soft, comfortable pillow I was on turned to an equally comfortable pale, straw coloured rug, and then to a (to my eyes) massive dog.

 _Eventually_ , our motor movements were good enough to play-flight, usually with Pakkun (who was small, even for a puppy,) riding Bull as they charge at our little groups of two's and three's as we mock-battle our way to get the 'honour' of feeling more important.

Usually, Bull (Who is _large_ for a puppy) either bowls us over like little puppy-shaped footballs, or we all decide to conspire against Fort Bull And Pakkun and puppy-pile them.

Except, with little toothless, gummy-jaws.

And, like, _no_ cohesion.

At one point, we had a bizarre politics forming where anyone who joined in with Bull and Pakkun was promptly ignored and evaded by everyone _not_ called Bull and Pakkun, but eventually, it just collapsed as we were more interested in food than puppy-fights.

Even me. Maturity or no, I was really just a spectator at this point.

After about a month, we started to be left to rest on _genuine_ rugs as mum left and came back for her food, as opposed to having it all brought to her.

And the milk. I mustn't forget the milk. Though I _really_ _want_ to forget the milk.

Hey! _You_ can blame infantile amnesia for the inability to remember your own suckling phase! As little as _my_ soul could affect my thoughts, it still acted like the world's biggest hard drive, and fucking _remembered_ that part of my life.

Damnit, Shinigami! You could've let my soul, I dunno, float into my head after a few months!

At least it only lasted two months, as opposed to, like, the decade it seemed to take in my last remembered life.

Though two months of… _that_ is always two months way too many.

I swear, I will never be able to look at breasts without shivering and curling into foetal position at this point.

Good thing I'm a _dog_.

Well, I'm a _dog_ -I'm not a ninken yet- so perhaps not foetal position, but the point stands!

 _Grrr!_ Me angry!

Bitching (Aha _ha_!) about my new life or no, after three months of having our mother, we pups were separated from her.

While I wasn't anything more than a backup-drive at the moment, to be out of her 'aura' was scary, and it _hurt_.

Let it never be said that puppies didn't notice their mother going away.

Granted, I didn't remember much. Granted, I was literally the _most_ detached of the pack, memory-bank and all that.

But here's the thing:

Memories are links in the brain. The hand links with the ball and links with catching. Stuff like that.

But memories _also_ link to emotion.

Remember when I said it was a 'little' bit like being in the world's greatest cinema? Well, that's because one of the primary objectives of a cinema is to impart _feelings_ to the viewers

Better graphics? More lifelike? Relatable? All these things are of great importance to film-makers.

I didn't have to go through all that middle-man bull. I was not just _looking there_ , I _was there._

And that made all the difference in the world.

When I was near my mother, the smell of home and milk and _safety,_ I _felt_ safe. In my old life, as a human, I knew that in the familiar, calming presence of a mother (in an ideal home life), the child's brain will link her to happier times, and safety. It's why familiar toys are shown to children in panic attacks if they had a perfectly healthy, happy home life that does not prompt negative feelings.

We had a happy, healthy home life.

Then she left.

She was our rock, quite literally. We spent time lying on her, sleeping with her limbs around us, her feeding us, protecting us, and her leaving seemed to be the equivalent of ripping fishing hooks out of flesh.

And in that day, that hour, that second, where I was surrounded by eight puppies howling to the skies, I swore that I would protect them.

I swore that they would feel just as safe around me.

(And I never mentioned if I was howling too)

* * *

And it was that day that Sakumo Hatake entered our life holding his little three-year old charge in his arms, and his (pale, sickly-looking) wife trailing behind him, with what looked like a solid clone of a kind letting her arms cling to him, exhaustion in her slump and the thin sheen, and smell, of sweat on her forehead.

Sakumo Hatake.

Stronger than almost all of Konoha's Jonin.

Stronger than the Sannin.

Probably a Hokage candidate.

Saved Konoha _at least_ once.

Could kill me with his _pinky_.

 _But he isn't one of the pack_

So then I _growled_ , the deep sound causing my flesh to ripple slightly, my hairs on end, and all four legs spread.

On one hand, I was something a three months old German Shepherd.

On the other hand, I was _three months old_.

Even when resting my weight on my hind legs, I probably wouldn't make it past his waist.

 _Is he why the pack was a member short later on?_

Then he handed Kakashi to a seal-less, seamlessly formed Kage Bushin (I could tell from the smoke) and he chuckled.

"He's a feisty one, eh?" Behind him, his wife smiled.

"Good thing Kakashi-kun's going to have such a tight-knit pack."

Kakashi's mother was a tall, thin woman with faded, freshly-combed brown hair and an angular face. She had a pair of bags under each eye, with the shadows extending them to a large extent.

But, without a shadow of a doubt, the most defining characteristic was the two (Faded) red, base-up triangles on her cheeks.

Isosceles Triangles, to be exact.

I collapsed into a more comfortable, non-threatening position, resting on my hind legs.

 _Fuck, I just threatened one of the most powerful people I will ever meet_

I would have been a little more openly worried in my old body to Sakumo.

Unfortunately, Sakumo probably works with Ninken, and therefore noticed my anxiety anyway. And if he didn't, his wife would've.

And the pack most _definitely_ did, based on the way that we gravitated together.

Then The Words slipped from my mouth, and she froze.

" _You are an Inuzuka"_ I muttered, forgetting that _she can understand ninken's speech._

Big mistake.

She frowned and stroked her chin reflexively (she's probably off-guard in presence of her ridiculously OP husband and the non-threats we were. Still, I mused, she couldn't have been on duty for a while for some of her shinobi edge to blunt).

Then she spoke.

If we had been ninken, I have no doubt that she would have replied in her mother tongue, It'll undoubtedly be much more natural for her.

But, to the initial confusion of Kakashi (Damn, Sakumo's got some _damn strong_ poker-face game) and _probably_ Sakumo, she replied in a rapid series of short barks.

It was a bit like saying 'I come now' instead of 'I will come now', it was heavily abbreviated and accented.

Description aside, all in all, she said (Translated to _proper_ … I don't know. Our language wasn't exactly named, at least to my knowledge): _How come you know about the Inuzuka Clan?_

Well, it was more like "How uh 'ave knows 'bout Clan Inuzuka", with even _worse_ word-order, but it still stands.

The weariness in her tone was startlingly evident.

 _As an Inuzuka, shouldn't her dog-speech be as good, if not better than ours?_

As Ninken-In-Training, the first thing we were taught was to understand human speech.

Since in my last life, I was _in Japan,_ and they spoke a _Japanese_ shoot-off-language-thingie (A bit like American-English and British-English), I took to the lessons like a duck to water, but it was probably the only thing I would have an upper hand on with Ninken Training.

I mean, it bought me a few months in the training program, but that would just give the _rest_ of the pack proper incentive to improve. Eventually, they would catch up.

Still, by 'crunch time', we would be just a better fighters, so no harm was done.

Anyway, back to the whole 'I just revealed advanced knowledge exactly fifty seconds into the first meeting like an absolute Munk'.

Yes. Munk.

I am a doggy Munk.

Not even a monk. A munk _._

Behold, ye puny mortal.

"Mother, how did you learn how to speak with ninken?" Because of _course_ , Kakashi would speak first.

Then I noticed something about Kakashi. It was kinda sad though.

Even when three, Kakashi was a shinobi at heart.

It was in the way that he traced each of the pack and tried to find out who the 'alpha' dog was. It was in the way that he was looking at the area and determining entry and exit points, places where the ground was flat and areas where the ground was too uneven to fight with good footing.

As said, it was kinda sad that he was thinking about that when he was _three_. He's meant to be enjoying himself playing with friends or getting excited about his future summons, not evaluating us and the surroundings.

I don't even _know_ how he dealt with the piece-of-shite hand that life dealt him with probably _nothing_ good to fall back on.

No wonder he spent hours at the memorial stone, stuck in times long past. He only had a genuinely enjoyable experience _never_. Even when he had dropped his veil of 'indifference' and was in a state to see life as more than a list of rules and regulations, _even_ when he had everyone (apart from Sakumo) in his life alive, Rin was in danger.

Then Obito 'died'.

Then Rin impaled herself on his Chidori.

Then Minato and Kushina died.

Then he watched the village ostracise their son, too broken to help him as he broke himself like an egg in ANBU.

Then Sasuke Left The village, 'left' being a short term. 'Abandoned due to a combination of intense psychological scarring and a magical Hickey' was closer, though less...well, how do I say it?

Appealing? Accepting? Harder to place blame on Sasuke?

I honestly believe that there isn't a person alive who would've done anything differently in the same position with the same experiences.

Then he watched the village that he worked _so hard_ for, _burn_ in Nagato's invasion.

Then, he could finally say his goodbyes to his father.

Then he faced down his almost equally broken teammate with the _burn_ of seeing his betrayal of Konoha.

And Obito's accusals.

And watching his best friends life _break_.

And watching him die, again.

 ** _How the fuck did he do it?_**

How the **fuck** did he make it?

I wouldn't have made it.

No-one I know would have.

By the time I had made it through the _impact_ of understanding _what_ Kakashi would go through would become _real_ , at a more-than-intellectual level, Sakumo and his un-named wife had talked through the anomaly that was me.

Luckily, Pakkun told me that they had more or less chalked it down to overhearing from other dogs. Apparently, we were going to go to the Inuzuka compound to finish our training now that Mum wasn't going to help us with it anymore.

 _The Inuzuka_

It turns out that there is actually an examination done for whether or not we are ninken-grade in the Inuzuka compound, that will need a passing grade or better to get our hands on a headband.

 _Wait. There are 'other dogs?'._

" _Come"_ Say's Kakashi's mum " _We will take you to a place to finish your learning and grow strong. You will be able to protect the pack better. Come"_

So we, following Pakkun on Bull's head, trailed after her.

" _Do you have names?"_

Sometimes, a ninken mother names their pups. If ours had, then I wasn't awake for it.

" _We have a few names picked out. We have exactly eight, unfortunately. I can make two more on the spot though."_

 _Well,_ I mused. _I'm kinda used to 'Satoru', sooo-_

I opened my maw " _Satoru. I want to be called Satoru, please"_ because _why not_. Show advanced abilities, why don't yah! It doesn't make you show up! I mean, a name and a language base of a six-year-old are worth potentially killing yourself over.

She paused mid stride, causing Kakashi's head to _snap_ towards her. Sakumo didn't even hesitate, but I had the feeling he was paying close attention to her…

And me.

Without even moving his _eyeball_.

What _the hell_ was I thinking, trying to tangle with him? I'm insanely out of my depth, and that's just in _paying attention_.

This time, Sakumo spoke.

Unlike his wife, who had a sweet, but tired voice, Sakumo's voice was deeper (expected), relatively normal-low in volume (unexpected) and perfectly smooth, with undertones of playfulness.

 _Playfulness_.

And here was I, expecting a cloak-and-dagger badass with, like, an Iwa shinobi's head on his shoulder, and a fragment of a skull with a Suna symbol hanging off the edge of a bloody tanto.

And black clothes. All black clothes.

"So, Satoru, can you understand human tongue yet?"

What?

His wife hadn't told him ye-

He can understand ninken.

 _Well…_

The thing about speech is, the positions your mouth and tongue and stuff make is _muscle memory._

That means that it is _involuntary_.

This body's voice box made vowels _damn_ hard. Chakra helped, but only so much.

And the fact that the further the general facial structure deviated from humans, the harder human tongue didn't help in the _slightest._ Hello? German Shepherd here!

As a German Shepherd, if I hadn't my innate understanding of human speech, learned through _being a human_ , and _speech_ , I wouldn't be able to talk in anything other than Bark-lish.

Yeah, Bark-ish. Because, why not?

"Ha"- I forced chakra to help me with this syllable, "ai" Luckily, 'ai' was much, _much_ easier.

"Well done, kid" Kakashi's mum gave a feral grin that helped prove her Inuzuka heritage further "Most of our more linguistically talented ninken started around now with two syllables. Well done."

Then, Pakkun happened.

"How does this measure?" I _stopped_.

 _What the fuck?_

" _Pakkun, what, how?"_

He wagged his stubby tail the best he could. It was yet to lengthen a little.

" _We have other dogs around us, perfectly willing to help out. Not my fault you are always sleeping when you are not drinking or playing. You seem to be on autopilot half the time."_

What the fuck _is_ he? Some sort of doggie Kakashi?

Then again, he _was_ the only one of Kakashi's ninken I saw that could use anything _like_ a clone technique.

" _And I learnt the basics of Ninken art: Hound Clone"_ Sakumo, his wife, us, me, and everyone not called Kakashi stopped walking (talking about Kakashi, it seems that he was let down as soon as he questioned his mum).

Pakkun is officially an Attention Whore. CAP'S included.

So of course, I _had_ to voice my displeasure.

" _Attention Whore"_ I mutter- barked lowly. I hoped no-one picked it up.

This time, Sakumo allowed himself to turn his head and eyes.

 _Well,_ I smiled with a pained expression (It looks like constipation on a German Shepard, Don't Try This At Home Kids)

 _Shit._

Well.

" _Well, luckily Kakashi doesn't understand ninken."_

His mum turned to face me.

" _Yes. 'Luckily'"_.

Under my fur, I paled and shivered.

* * *

 **AAAnd** ** _cut!_**

 **:P**

 **Tell me what you think. Good? Okay? Horrible? Superb? Any and everything is accepted, flames included.**

 **Well, apart from the flames that go "Fuck you -insert highly insensitive term of abuse-", but anything even vaguely ranty with a** ** _point_** **, like "Scene XXX was a pile of warm, stinking manure", but** ** _greatly_** **extended will be taken into consideration.**

 **Jae Nae**


	2. Prologue: Of Scarecrows and Puppies

**To: Sahragri99- Thanks! You always support my fics, and I really appreciate that! You deserve a cookie! *hands cookie***

* * *

 _"When people tell me 'you're going to regret that in the morning,' I sleep in until noon because I'm a problem solver"_

* * *

 _Chapter 2: Of Scarecrows and Puppies_

* * *

'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Calling Pakkun an attention whore in front of Kakashi (in another language, thank _fuck_ ) isn't isn't 'scorning', but there is plenty of 'fury' and plenty of 'hell', so it balances out.

And if 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', then an _Inuzuka_ woman is even _more_ terrifying.

 _Meep_

A loud, terrifying voice blares out behind me: " _Run!"_ Kakashi's mum, now known as Inuzuka Hibana (Which translates to: absolutely nothing) stretches on her deck chair as she made me run faster and further because 'I want you to'.

Still, I couldn't say _no_. She's fucking terrifying.

"Faster" she crows "Faster! Sweat is _weakness_ leaving the _body_! Feel the _burn_! _Faster_!" I personally think she's gone _too effin' far_ but, I'm too busy trying not to like, _die_ of exhaustion.

I pant like a dog as I dash through the field, stray twigs and dirt clinging to my paws like limpets.

Yes. Like a dog

I like to think I'm funny...

 _This is going to feel like crap in the morning. And by 'this' I mean 'my whole body'._

" _You're gonna run until_ _ **I**_ _feel tired!"_

Well, being the most unfit of the pack probably has something to do with it.

…

 _Nah. She just hates me._

My stomach rumbles and growls like an impending earthquake " _When's lunch?"_

" _Tomorrow! Keep going"._

Well, fuck me.

* * *

Earlier

" _Up_ you get, Kakashi-kun" Tou-san's voice sounds loud and clear like a monk's morning bell.

I stretch briefly to increase my blood flow and flexibility and climb out of my shuriken-patterned bed, briefly stooping to pick up a rubber kunai that had fallen out of it's designated rack.

With a pitter-patter of little feet, I descended downstairs to breakfast, placing my hand on the stair case after encasing it in a layer of chakra to detect any sharp objects that could damage my fingers and cause me to be crippled as far as ninjutsu goes, such as shinobi-grade razor-wire.

I make my way down the wooden floor of our downstairs hall, the front door to my back as I went to the door straight ahead.

Placing my fingers on the cool doorknob, I open the door with minimal force as it swings noisily. We can't have intruders take advantage of a freshly-oiled door, can we?

The thick, distinctive scent of grilled fish, mixes with the lighter watery overtones of freshly-boiled rice and the caffeine-rich smell of tea as I take my place at the table, Okaa-san is sat opposite to me, drinking green tea as Tou-san uses chakra strings to pick up a plate with rice, fish and a type of sauce with a dozen strings attached to the rim like points on a clock, swinging slightly as the grains shift with the motion. He also held another two in his hands, a slightly more sensible position.

Placing the two in his hands on the table, he takes his now free hands to pick up his own plate and softly place it down on the table.

"Good morning Kakashi-kun" He starts cheerfully "Today is a big day for you".

I raise an eyebrow.

"How?"

He chuckles, gesturing to Okaa-san with his free hand as he picks up fish and rice with a chopstick (the rice is on a 'slab' of fish, and is sticky enough to not fall off) "Ask your kaa-san, she knows more than me".

I turn to Okaa-san.

She speaks with her weary tone somehow projecting excitement, and her usual soft smile "Today you get to meet your ninken pack, and one to two main ninken to stay with you as the both of you grow".

I smile back and subconsciously rub my hands.

"When today, Okaa-san?"

She taps the rim of her plate.

"As soon as you finish your breakfast, Kakashi-kun"

I hurried and ate faster than normal, taking and washing my plate quickly, and accidentally pricking the back of my hand with _something_ in the mass of bubbles.

Quick as a flash, Tou-san and Okaa-san Shunshin over to me, Okaa-san lifting me up and Tou-san drawing his White Chakra Sabre on instinct.

They probably smelt the blood.

She Shunshins to her room.

"Okaa-san, I just pricked myself". She drops her stony countenance and rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

"Well, let's go tell Tou-san that, shall we?" lets me down, and disappears with a splash of smoke.

And no leaves. According to Okaa-san, 'if you need to use a Shunshin, and if anything even a _bit_ like debris is included, you should go and buy yourself a coffin'.

I feel the chakra spike smooth down as the people in the Hatake Compound file back into their homes.

As I slipped downstairs, Tou-san was packing away our gear in a large-over-the-shoulder storage scroll, taking the effort to label each individual's scroll with our names.

"Here," He said, never taking his eyes off his work "I have one for you, Kakashi-kun, one for Kaa-san and one for me" He straightened out one of the three scroll, the blank side covered with an emerald green 'Kakashi', **カカシ** in non-chakra-conductive ink.

He shifted and I went to get my kunai-sized tantō as he straightened and then rolled his and Okaa-san's scrolls before sealing them in his much larger, fūinjutsu-frendly sealing scroll.

By the time he was done, I was back.

"Let's go, Kakashi-kun".

I stretched my arms towards him, parallel, in the universal sign for 'carry me'.

He complied, lifting me onto his back as Okaa-san… sat down in the middle of our kitchen/dining room and opened an Uzumaki sealing scroll.

"Okaa-san?" She looked up and smiled.

"Okaa-san isn't very well, honey. So Tou-san is going to unseal a scroll to 'summon' me whenever you stop for a break, and when you and tou-san slow down to civilian speeds for the last hundred meters of your journey."

I frowned

"You can use Shunshin" It might have been phrased like a statement, but it was as good a question as any.

She rolled the scroll and sat it down.

"Yes, I could. But that's because it isn't taxing on your body as much as it's taxing on your reserves. My Shunshin would've been dozens of times slower than your Tou-san's, honey. Don't worry about it, although this fūin would cost a bit of chakra to activate, it is about as strenuous to do as stretching your limbs." Then she paused. "Strenuous means hard-to-do or difficult"

"Okaa-san"

"Yes, 'Kashi-kun?"

"Why aren't you very well"

This time Tou-san interrupted us two.

"It's very complicated, and we do not completely know. Now, chop-chop" With the appropriate hand movements "We need to get to the ninken before nightfall, else we will have to camp out the night".

We started down the hallway, to my displeasure.

I frowned again.

"Bu-" _He's a superior officer._

I stopped, and dipped my head, letting a shadow form from my spiky hair over my eyes and forehead.

At the door, Tou-san spoke in a much lower, softer voice.

"I wasn't lying Kakashi-kun. It's a very, very complicated situation that we ourselves do not completely understand. So, we are trying to work it out. We get new information about those tests that Okaa-san did in the hospital every day. If we tell you something and the situation changes daily, what's the point?"

He sighed, opening the door, and then locking it behind us.

For a while, from the Shunshin to Konoha's gate right till we passed seeing range of Konoha, we were quiet.

"It's a difficult time for all of us, Kakashi-kun, and I didn't want to drag you into this. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry that you have to have such an unbalanced home life. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better father."

The air _whirred_ and _buzzed_ as Tou-san limbs were sped up with lightning chakra, and the air parted with wind as he reached truly tremendous speeds, sandaled feet slapping against the massive branches of the thick, heavy, domineering Hashirama Tree's like a hundred wooden marbles being shook against each other, before he cut off the change in chakra nature and switched to the regular jumping monkey technique taught in the academy for tree-hopping, slowing considerably, but maintaining a good portion of his momentum.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun. But I'll try to make our lives a little bit better, a little bit brighter every day. So that when you are stuck in mission after mission or even in ANBU, with your truly prodigious talent, you have something to look back on, unlike many of us really, really-high tiered ninja. There is a reason strength is associated with madness, and I'm going to try to avoid that."

I shifted slightly, so my face was out of the way of the breeze.

"I wouldn't tell most children this, but you are not most children. You are my Kakashi-kun. You are the Scarecrow in the fields of the Hatake clan, you are the one who will scare the birds away without even moving an inch. And with your help, the Hatake clan will prosper, and feed our village of Konoha the fruits of our labour. So, it's only fair that I give our little scarecrow some nice, high-quality straw to cover him, and nice clothes to warm him. I know that you can surpass even me in time. Let me tell you something Kakashi:"

And I leaned closer into his touch "What?"

"When I was as old as you, I hadn't touched a kunai or a shuriken. I was a genin at ten, which was the _average_ graduating age. I didn't have a Kekkei Genkai or even a family possession. All I had was a shattered tantō and memories of better times when I was in the battlefields. _You have surpassed me, in a way, Kakashi_."

And for some strange reason, even if Shinobi are not meant to show weakness or emotions, I had a nice, warm feeling inside, like drinking hot chocolate when the windows were covered in frost, and a smile on my face as the wind whipped my hair into strange shapes on my Tou-san's back.

And slowly but surely, my eyes drooped as my little frame slumped and my semi-frown fled my face in a deep, deep sleep with the rocking of my travel and the lullaby of the insects and dried leaves being crunched underfoot.

"Cheesy, I know" whispered Sakumo "But at least the point got across. I love you Kakashi-kun, I really do".

Then he chucked "Even if I can play like you like a fiddle."

* * *

 _Damnit_

The journey _to_ here, with genin-level speed, was bad enough.

Having to do exercise after that is even worse.

Having to do _extra_ exercise after that is _even worse_.

Still, I diligently worked through my laps (Not in half because Hibana is fucking terrifying) and eventually made it to Kakashi's place before collapsing, drenched in sweat.

Fur did _not_ help.

After a nice, long sleep that night, I was. woken up by Hibana, Kakashi, Pakkun and Bull, to continue on this bizarre human (+doggy) centipede of waking people (+doggies) up.

 _Eventually_ , all of us managed to migrate downstairs (where I _originally_ fell asleep: near the door) to get to an underground training chamber (false wall in the kitchen) where we got to get to a large, closed scroll.

Well, 'all' of us sans Sakumo.

 _Kakashi is probably going to get himself his summoning contract. That means that the pack can do battle with a natural defence to send us back if things go awry._

"Right. This is a summoning scroll. It recognises you by your blood and chakra, though anyone checking it needs to be able to recognise you on it if you were, say, captured with anti-summon seals. So, I'll prick your arm or paw, smear it on your section, and write your name next to it, in ink."

She unfolded the scroll, after placing it on a 10 by 10, meter blank scroll. The smaller of the scrolls had an Uzumaki vortex, and with a start, I realized that it was incorporating something from _outside_ to power it.

By the time I had come to that conclusion, so had my pack, with the sole exception of Kakashi.

Pakkun, the most well versed in speaking Japanese (in his _own_ body) was the first one to voice it, "Hibana-san, why is some strange… energy used in powering that seal?".

She smiled knowingly "It's the latent natural energy. Since you are a summon, you can sense it, and have the _potential_ to utilise it, though due to the Dog clan consisting of many packs, some summonable and some not, your clan's sages and main sage are not easy to contact. Of course, you might have a natural sage-to-be in your pack, but that's _highly_ unlikely. After all, the five hundred and thirty two Inuzuka ninken, as a collective don't know a sage, let alone have one in their massive pack."

She waved her hand in a 'come-hither'-ey way.

"Now's for the fun part" She produces an ominously large needle with the sort of expression that deserved thunder, lightning and six o'clock shadows. "Hold still and this won't hurt any more than it needs to".

 _Fuck fuckfuckityfuck_

Her form flickers as she dashes between us and the scroll like some sort of a bizarre yo-yo, rapidly writing our names with a splash of ink and a dab of blood at the appropriate section.

And… she jabbed me in the leg.

The leg.

 _Damnit, I still need to_ _ **walk!**_

Still, she finishes writing on the smaller scroll, before the Fūin _glows_ a light blue colour -probably chakra- before expanding onto the larger scroll.

Then it shrinks back into the smaller scroll, as the Fūin on it 'disappears' through some Uzumaki sealing wizardry, and replaces itself with an empty table, consisting of two columns and about seven rows.

"Your names have been shifted to the back of the scroll" She explains "And the empty table you see is for any potential human summoners to write on. Like Kakashi-kun over here".

Said 'Kakashi-kun' found his way over to us from the corner where he was doubtless trying to be intimidating and said:

"I am Hatake Kakashi, your master from this point onwards. Now, we need to work o-"

" _Puppy pile initiate. Resistance is futile"_ I whispered to Bull, like a school kid passing notes in class " _spread the word"._

A certain silver-haired Academy attendee found himself with Bull's weight pinning him to the floor mid-monologue.

I tried to speak. Note: tried.

"Hahtahkah Kahkahshih-"

Pakkun didn't seem to know whether to close my jaw or just give up on life.

So, with a kick to the face:

Pakkun snorted and rolled his eyes-"Kakashi you little brat" Said 'Kakashi' looked genuinely terrified with all of us on him, like it was an ambush, not a hug.

 _He probably didn't get much physical contact._

Well.

It's time for _that_ to change!

"Welcome to the pack. Now go sign that _blasted_ scroll, feel our pain, and _stop trying to not smile_."

His mother looked… sad? Sad and happy?

 _What?_

Anyways, back to Kakashi.

Terrified to smiling is a _bit_ of a U-Tur- nope. I was wrong. Fuck me.

He obliged, but somehow, due to some adorable undercompensation for his three-year-voice managed to make his voice sound like an angry five-year-old with a sore throat.

"Very well" he tried to sound all cloaky-kunaiy,.like what you'd expect from his dad-

Somewhere in my brain, cobwebs clear and cogs start turning.

Holy shite.

His dad.

That's why Kakashi's such a 'perfect shinobi' and a stickler for the rules.

 _He is living under his dad's shadow._

I don't even know _why_ I get to these dramatic conclusions when I do, but _damn_.

 _Some_ of them make sense.

"-demands" And _shit_.

" _Why ain't you not looking bored?"_ whispered Pakkun.

" _I spaced out_ " Pakkun snorted

" _Normally, I don't envy your attention levels and attention span, but…"_ I flapped a paw.

" _But?"._

" _I envy it"_ I grinned like a Cheshire cat.

" _Oi, Satoru, you dumb shit"._

Well, looks like I was caught red…

Pawed.

Red-pawed.

What sorta comparison is _that?_ Red-pawed?

- **B** _h_ wa _ **p** \- _A little 'love tap' from Bull sends me flying across the room like a doggy torpedo.

Fuck, it's the _same fucking leg_.

I _yelp_ and _growl_ as I _jump_ onto bull in the worst attempt at (It looked like-) bullfighting I've ever tried in a puppy fight.

Well.

 _This_ I though sardonically _is going to end badly_

A handful of months old, and he's taller than most fully grown men.

With a veritable _tornado_ of _yelps_ and _rumbling_ and a scratchy pitter-patter of pre-ninken paws, we delve into the first puppy-fight of the week.

Fort Pakkun And Bull pulls into a five-puppy match of snarls with four yelps and a ' _ **a**_ h _r_ _ **o**_ _u_ **'** like a tank into heavy gunfire, yipping victoriously.

Well, until Fort Pakkun And Bull go and get absolutely _ganked_ by, like, twenty tons of flesh and fur and _teeth outchoutchoutchmyfuckintail_

" _ **E-nough, you overgrown rodents"**_

Then _Hibana_ happened.

I swear, I left behind this feeling last time Headmaster Ichigo (yes, Ichigo. I ain't even _needing_ to lie) called me to his office about the broken toilet sink.

 _Don't judge me!_

Anyways, after we got our asses _whipped_ into shape (I guess an _Inuzuka_ knows how to deal with overly excitable puppies), _soundly_ , and were told that Pakkun and I would be living with Kakashi for the time being, so that _we_ knew exactly how a human- a _shinobi_ human lived and so that _Kakashi_ knew how a ninken lived.

 _Phah. As if_ _ **I**_ _need to be taught by a three-year-old how humans live,_ I thought.

 _This will be easy_ , I thought.

The term ' _Shinobi_ Human' floated around in the very, very detailed canvas ( See ' _white bear on snow'_ or ' _arctic fox in a snowstorm' for reference_ ) otherwise known as 'my mind'.

* * *

 **EDIT: I've purged it bit, but if there's anything that looks particularly shite, and doesn't have a purpose behind it, please feel free to let me know.**

 **For those of you who are new, feel lucky. Sleep-deprived me adds phrases like 'as rational as a toasted limo' into a fanfic.**

 **[Hint hint~ Lots of favs/follows/reviews motivates me...]**


	3. Prologue: Of Bonds and Children

**AN: Hi,**

 **Back from the Hiatus! I have** _ **ideas**_ **, so** _ **many**_ **ideas. If you want to add to them, please do. At worst it wouldn't fit, at best you can see your little plot bunny come alive.**

 **To: Blue16Talons: Thanks! I'll take your feedback and stop breaking sentences like that. Thanks. Constructive criticism like that is half the reason I write this. To be honest though, while I tried to avoid it, I don't know if I just made it worse.**

 **I would advise sticking, the next chapter is _very_ , _ver_ _y_ important. If you miss it, this fic wouldn't make any sense.**

* * *

 _"The hottest fires forge the strongest steel"- unknown_

* * *

 _Chapter 3: Of Bonds and Children_

* * *

I gazed into the frigid night sky in my icy-cold battle armour and watched a broken ring of smoke drift upwards into the night.

Normally, I would have simply made another one- a normal one, but today was not a normal day. This smoke was not enjoyed despite it being of the very finest tobacco, a handful of which easily cost more than a c-rank mission.

The funds would be drawn from my own bank. It was done to give myself the edge of calm, as opposed to the twitchy rigidity that had killed other kage before me.

 _Well,_ I mused, _this pre-war coldness has finally come to an end with outright confrontation. Perhaps Tobirama-sensei was right, the villages cannot be trusted_.

Who is it this time? Kumo? Kiri? Iwa? Suna? Kusa? Taki?

When in a shinobi village, nay, when _leading_ a shinobi village, one must never trust _anyone_ , no matter the situation.

It was that trust that had killed kage before me.

It was that trust that killed Uzushiogakure.

"ANBU wolf, approach with caution, send summons to meet Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sanin".

I did not say 'please'. I am Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama" With a _whoosh_ and a thin, rapidly dispersing trail of chakra-smoke bleeding into the Natural Energy of the place, Sakumo Hatake left efficiently, as I would have expected from my greatest operative.

I removed my Hokage hat with the calm of a man who has lived through two wars, lead through one, and will now lead through another, if worst comes to worst.

 _No, Hiruzen_ I chided myself _If 'worst comes to worst', I wouldn't be the one to lead The Leaf, as I would be dead._

No.

 _I would be alive, and The Leaf would be dead._

I shuddered.

That truly would be the worst possible situation.

Luckily, even Onoki Himself couldn't burn _all_ of Konoha down to the ground. Though he could cripple us.

 _Perhaps it is for the best that Orochimaru is currently in the land of grass. He always has an unpredictable style of handling things, that would not be wanted in this type of situation._

 _Even if his raw firepower is much needed in this time of crisis._

My fingers ghosted over the edges of a small, fist-sized replica of the Konoha memorial stone, and with a _puff_ of chakra- and no smoke, the Hokage's office was empty once more, and the words " _For the Will of Fire"_ were only a whisper in the wind.

* * *

Sakumo is still off on some mission. Hibana, Pakkun, Kakashi, and my slightly-less-glorious-than-my-usual-glorious-morning-self are slouched/lying/are sat rigidly straight and probably imagining it to be an infiltration mission while reciting the shinobi rules, respectively.

'It will be easy', I thought.

'I know how humans live', I thought.

Judging by the (lovely) breakfast, full of fatty, meaty, fresh steak and biscuits, I was wrong.

How?

"Thot zhun ihz-" Fuck it " _The sun isn't_ _even up yet"_ Hibana's teeth, I'm not kidding, _elongate_ , her eyes turn white, her head swells like Iruka's shut-up-you-brat-no-jutsu or whatever it's called and in a _dangerous_ calm-

"So what if it is, **eh** " I whimper and shrink into my two minute-old blue coat "That's what I though. Quiet, brat. Do you care to say anything, Pakkun-kun?".

And of _course_ he's under the table. Asleep. Lucky bastard.

" **I said, 'do you have anything to say', Pakkun-kun"**

Poor little shit.

"You seem tired Pakkun-kun. Perhaps breakfast will leave you a little too bloated…"

He shoots out from under the table like a bullet somewhere between the size of a foot and a fist aaand-

 _Thump_

Yep. He's on my head. Which means Hibana's glare is-

Yep. At my head.

She… deflates, for lack of a better term.

Then she… chuckles?

"I'm such a bitch. In more ways than one, too. Now Pakkun-kun" he sits ramrod straight "...eat. I'm only sadistic to the point it hurts you, not cripples you, or your potential. Your brother, whose head you're sitting on, is much larger, so covering a distance like your bed to here is less tiring. Here" She… picks him up? Eh? What?

At my confused expression she explained:

"I'm a mother, and you are three months old. You are a large pup, but you were at Pakkun-kun's strength about two months ago. Don't worry though, unlike him, you'll get the real deal in training."

Still, Hibana has a _kind_ side?! Fucking hell!

I looked for a moon and the subsequent cow jumping over it, asteroids clashing and-

Nothing.

 _Now now, I have bigger things to worry about._

Like the 'real deal in training' thing, and the 'I will only hurt you to the point it doesn't maim you' thing.

 _Well..._

" _I need an adult"_

Hibana _grinned_ -

" _I_ _ **am**_ _an adult"_

 _Well…_

Shit.

* * *

Training as a Ninken, while it needed _plenty_ of exercise, wasn't _just_ physical.

History. _Yay_. Geography. _Urgh_. Maths -boredom, but at least I have m'ah stale 69 jokes.

Science. It was fun the first time, ego-boosting the second…

And wrong here. Apparently, 'scientific technique' is something that's been around about thirty years.

Oh, and _Orochimaru_ invented 78% of everything that has to do do with science. Really. No lies.

Orochimaru. The dude who just casually slaughtered two kage and somehow managed to ally with Konoha enough to send his son there after the Fourth Shinobi world war.

Anyways, away from the morbid fascination I have with ruining a perfectly good mood, apparently, the Hatake clan and the Inuzuka was- are a pair of extremely close clans.

Like, Senju-Uzumaki, sharing-clan-techniques close. Apparently, a Hatake was responsible for developing a shielding technique that was incorporated into many of the Inuzuka's techniques. SpecifIcally, some due named … Hatake-Inuzuka Kiba.

Yep. Naruto's friend, Kiba, 'master panty stealer' of Konoha, was named after _that_. Waste of a good name, if you ask me. Even if the 'panty-stealer' moniker was probably from a filler. Or fanon.

Hey, I _distinctly_ remember a filler about a ninja ostrich. 'Konoha's bloody panty stealer of doom' isn't _that_ far off.

 _Well. No internet. Guess I'll never know._

Anyways, back to the Inuzuka-Hatake mass orgy that spanned this headache: it's also why experienced Inuzuka (And Hatake), can spam clan techniques without hand-seals.

You see, the chakra flow doesn't need any hand-seals as, _get_ _this_ , the Hatake clan incorporated their anti-ninja-bullshit, hand-sealless, _samurai_ battle style into the Inuzuka's after the Kaguya clan almost annihilated them and said Inuzuka saved them.

I guess it explains the family possession being a _sword_.

I guess it _also_ explains Kakashi's ninken summons, and his scent-tracking being better than Kiba's, in part one at the very least.

It _doesn't_ explain his lack of a non-summons partner and his lack of Inuzuka Clan marks. Or even different-coloured marks, to show a close-but-different clan like 'that sweet little Nohara girl'.

 _Guess who? Fuck the plot, that's who!_

The "I've planned for you to meet the newest child hailing from our medically-based sister clan- the Nohara", is good in a way.

It would partially explain Rin's infatuation with Kakashi.

It would _not_ explain the _lack_ of a "hey do I know you", or the more likely "So _you_ are that little failure who showed her emotions while being a clan shinobi in-training" showing up in a flashback somewhere.

There being a _Nohara_ clan is really anti-fanon. But then again, there is apparently a 'Lee' clan, which is almost _equally_ anti-fanon.

 _Ergh_

The whole ' _This_ works for _this_ but not for _that_ ' is getting to my head. And splitting it. Diagonally. With an axe.

I would ask her to just _stop_ pouring knowledge into my head, but it'll help. Eventually. I guess stuff like 'Kakashi is probably Rins cousin twenty-times removed' _does_ break up the monotony, but in a 'Oooh, Godzilla likes you, squishy human' kinda way as opposed to a 'Oooh, chocolate cake!' kinda way.

 _You know. I think. I hope._

Anyways, Kakashi, Pakkun and I lived with Hibana for a grand total of a year, all of us picking up skills and developing a bond so close that we could work in sync.

It turns out that Pakkun was too weak to be Kakashi's ninken partner, and the rest of the pack, practically being infants, were far too… well, dumb. I don't really know how to soften that. At three months, they were far too stupid to develop a Ninken-Shinobi bond, and when they were, Kakashi was too old to... well.

It's complicated.

You see, there is a kind of time limit on when a ninken can bond with their partners, the younger the better. It's limited by both age and _maturity_ , and while the Inuzuka clansmen were therefore allowed to act like children, even in a war, the Hatake clan had no such legal protection. After all, they were relatively new to the leaf.

The Inuzuka and the Hatake _were_ different, in some ways. For example, almost all Hatake that don't have a hyphen in their clan name were good at Kenjutsu, or were at least good _enough at_ Kenjutsu to hold their own in a fight

It doesn't go both ways though, because 40% of the Hatake population, out a grand total of something abysmal, like, 20, were Inuzuka and these Inuzuka-Hatake clan-crossbred-paperwork-ninja's-knightmare things wanted their children to grow up like them.

Which meant the Hatake clans newer generation was learning how to fight with ninken and the like.

There was even talks about merging the clan grounds, and just designating the Hatake as a branch clan of the Inuzuka. I mean, it practically _was_ at this point, and a hundred years ago in the warring clans era, it would've been. Grouchy clan heads and 'clan secrets' and all that.

After all, teaching the basics of the 'four legs technique', aka the basis of Inuzukan taijutsu would've basically been treason unless it was being taught to a clanmate.

I swear, I should've already known this, if the Hatake clan was basically a mini Inuzuka clan plus swords, It would've at least shown up in an omake. I mean, _Hatake_ Kakashi is one of the main characters.

 _Hmm_

Perhaps it _did show_ up, and I just… never found out. It's not even that unlikely.

I mean, I was never really _into_ Naruto. I read a few fics, watched the episodes, but I've never cosplayed, told anyone, recommended it, or even wrote a fanfiction. I mean, I was a _mature_ kid in my last life, but I was a _kid_.

The only reason I got through it was via Narutospot, a series of coincidences, and sheer boredom of having everything I was 'learning' already in my head from previous lives.

I only read the manga because I was in Japan, and there was a library. With manga. Well,

Well, manga that didn't have fanservice in it.

I mean, Tsunade's one and a bloody half _meter_ breasts almost got Naruto banned, but we had, like, ten copies of the manga, the whole way through, just _sitting_ there, and the cost of selling it would never get us all our money back. It's like living outside a soap factory, and selling handmade bath soaps. It's just never going to lift off the ground.

"Satoru-kun, use less chakra you little twit!" Hibana barked as I meditated attached to the underside of a tree.

I complied.

 _Well, this is the only time I'll be able to get away with daydreaming_

"Kakashi-kun! Satoru-kun! Tsūga!" I cut the chakra flow to my feet, shook myself out of my meditative trance, and reflexively softened my fall.

I closed my eyes.

Around me was a) grass, b) four tree's and c) two simple bulls-eye target post with holes and scratches marring the surface.

Well, presuming she want's me to hit my one…

I visualised pulling a strand of energy from my… thoughts, it's the only way to describe it. You know when you think of something, again and again and again? It's like that, but a thousand times stronger, neural pathways firing repeatedly as my body uses its adaptations to form _yin_ chakra, from the mind.

In each of my cells, new, yet-to-be-unnamed subcellular structures _pulled_ and _twisted_ and if you had a byakugan, you would see bright red from my head mix with a deep, eye-wateringly bright blue as they churned and twisted and _moulded_ with a flourish and a double-helix of chakra-infused smoke. _Yang_ , from my body, and _chakra_ from an even, thorough mix of the two at a ratio of 1 is to 1.

A light baby blue aura surrounded me as I forced the yin to _move_ , moving the yang along like a steering wheel attached to a bus as I then proceeded to _leach_ the yin away and back into my coils as my yang _struck_ the ground with the force of a miniaturized freight train and a resonating, musical chime as my body vibrated with a deep _roar_ as it forced me to kick off the ground five times, each faster than before, propelling me towards the training post, spinning like a miniature tornado.

-But the wind shifted

-Moving towards a tree

- _nononono no chakra shield_

-fuckfuckfu-

Hibana stood in my path like a dam, and just _casually_ picked me from the air, much to my relief and subsequent annoyance.

"Hey" I tried to smirk, but I probably looked like I was having a seizure. "I totally had that".

Now _she_ smirked, and actually pulled it off, as she dropped me on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"You 'totally had' a hospital ticket? Because, it looked like you were going to collide with…" She trailed off, smirk still present as she strided over to the thick, menacing tree that almost killed me, tapping it. "An eighty-ton Hashirama tree. While your head is pretty thick" I 'humphed' and turned around "I _think_ that might be a little bit thicker. I mean, I can't be sure. You never know.".

I turned and prepared the best comeback I could before-

-Kakashi _slammed_ into and partially through the bull's eye on his target.

I _stared_.

He clearly hadn't thought it through enough, which was weird for Kakashi. But I guess he might either be trying to show me up, not that that needs much effort, impress his mum, annoy me, or all of the above.

Because _damn_ , if being shown up by four-year-old isn't annoying, just _what_ is?

I refrained from yelling 'oi, Bakashi!'. Soon now. Very soon now.

Soon now. Very soon now.

 _Damnit Obito, you're taking your sweet time._

Hmph.

And _why_ hadn't he 'thought it through'? Because he was still _in_ the post, arse end out to the world, and his I-just-woke-up-and-shinobi's-don't-comb-thirty-centimeters-of-hair hairstyle poking over the upper parts of the now-heavily-damaged target.

"Now, pups" Hibana spoke up in a weary tone. Kakashi and I sharpened and paid attention "I got your here at this hour" What hour? I mean, it's dark-o'clock at the moment "to blow off some steam. Pakkun-kun is still asleep. I would highly recommend your inside voices, and quiet footsteps. Think of it as Shinobi training for infiltration missions."

And she just _had_ to pull the Shinobi card. Damnit. No more antagonising Kakashi…

"And ninken need to be able to replicate dogs, _alongside_ hiding signs of their existence. Being quiet is essential when deep behind enemy lines."

Well…

 _I guess if I want to be a ninken..._

She smirked, but, lo and behold, _not at me!_ "Kakashi, get yer butt outta there".

He glared at the world. She walked up to him and gently pulled him out, placing a quick kiss on his forehead.

"-kisses". What?

Hibana echoed me playfully "What?"

She probably heard it way better than me.

"Shinobi don't need kisses. It's 'emotion'" He explained things like a boring paperwork nin describing the 'horrors' of being a nuke-nin, and how it will 'break your heart and soul'.

How is it linked? They both sound like the personification of something that's saying something not because they _want to_ , but _have to_.

"Well, you're not a shinobi yet, mister. You are a four-year-old toddler."

"-ot".

She smirked deeper.

"What?"

"-not"

She cupped her hand to her ear, singing-

"I can~'t he~ar yo~ou".

"I'M NOT A TODDLER, I GO TO PRE-ACADEMY".

He backed away, mortified as I burst out laughing, rolling on the floor.

Taking a deep breath, and pretending to get back his composure:

"I, mother, am not a toddler. You see, I attend the pre-shinobi institute of-"

Hibana joined me on the floor.

Kakashi grumped.

Mentally, I smiled.

Hibana being a bitch aside this was...

A perfect day.

* * *

Hibana put Kakashi and I to bed, sharing a bed with Pakkun, as she left for her own room.

I don't know why, but something doesn't seem right.

Maybe it's in the air. The cold, bitter air. The way that dinner seemed… bitter, and there was a strange tension in the air.

Something shifted in the corner of my eye, and I got up with a start and a short, rough bark that I muffled before it could get past my muzzle.

"You too, eh" Pakkun was up. Kakashi was being a silent, 'perfect shinobi' "Satoru, honestly, I-"

 _Poof_

 _What the fuck-_

Kakashi and I immediately migrated to each other's backs, him clutching a kunai, and me baring my teeth.

Pakkun didn't dispel himself.

Kakashi didn't force it.

 _Then what did_?

As if by some invisible hand, the air pressure briefly dropped.

Then _it happened_.

It started with the water-cups on our bedside table.

With a _drip-drip-dripdripdrip_ we found long, prominent crack just… appearing in the cups.

The windows shattered, the wind howled, and the mirrors broke.

 _What?_

And _nothing_ else happened.

So we walked onwards like a bizarre pair of conjoined twins, pausing in sync, breathing in sync, if I was human, walking in sync.

Both of us simultaneously spun threads of _yin_ and _yang_ into chakra, as at our age, the amount of chakra that we don't have to force our body into giving out isn't even _nearly_ enough to fuel a four-legs technique.

We held our chakra like a loaded rifle as we passed through the corridor, and into Hibana's room, and-

There she was.

But there was something a Little. Bit. Off.

It wasn't her movement. It wasn't her smile. It wasn't even her smell.

Well, kind of.

On one hand, I could smell _blood._

If she was Sakumo, I would've warned Kakashi already.

But I wouldn't, not yet. After all, there _is_ a certain reason for those of the female gender to have the scent of blood about them, while not having as much as a papercut.

 _Yes. A period._

Now here's the thing:

Kunoichi are taught, before Kamawari, before Henge, before Bushin, a simple, period-control seal.

I mean, being caught in enemy territory in an infiltration is bad enough. Being caught with a stomach cramp and period blood is even worse.

It's why kunoichi are usually better at sealing. They practice, one seal, every day. It can erase itself, if the kunoichi-in-training doesn't want to waste paper, ink, chakra…

Or want's a baby.

Well, not if a 'Kunoichi-in training … want's a baby', more of a 'Kunoichi wants a baby'.

But still.

Perhaps she wanted a child, her and the child died in childbirth, I inadvertently saved her, any number of things.

But I'm pretty sure that period blood doesn't smell like normal blood.

 _I wouldn't know, I live with three males and a female, the latter inhibiting her period._

 _But still. I'm only 'pretty sure', not 'completely sure'_ , so I don't do anything.

I regret it to this very day.

* * *

 **I've spent much more time planning than writing this chapter.**

 **Additionally, my time online is still limited (though I can plan with a pen and paper).**

 **So, if you see any mistakes, please let me know. What are your thought's on the removal of the original Chapter one? If wanted, I'll post a 'side story' with it on. Or, just bring it back.**

 **My main issue is that people are here for** _ **Kakashi**_ **, not** _ **Satoru**_ **, at least, to start off with.**

 **See ya next chappie!**


	4. Glazing the Cup: Of Weaklings and Limbo

**AN:**

 **To: Satanic Secretary- Thanks! And I'll try to avoid killing people when they read this out loud too :P. Really though, advice for my writing is greatly appreciated.**

 **Thou shalt know pain when thou has to manually replace a single word fifty-three times.**

 **Anyways, sorry for the wait. I rewrote some sections of my plot multiple times over, since they were sub-par and dragging the remainder of the plot with them.**

 **W** **hat's going to happen happens for a** ** _reason_** **. It's not random.**

* * *

 _Do not go gentle into that good night,_

 _Old age should burn and rave at close of day;_

 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Though wise men at their end know dark is right,_

 _Because their words had forked no lightning they_

 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright_

 _Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,_

 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,_

 _And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,_

 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight_

 _Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,_

 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _And you, my father, there on the sad height,_

 _Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray._

 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

* * *

 _Chapter 4: Of Weaklings and Limbo_

* * *

"Sochi-kun" She starts "Come here" she spread her arms as Kakashi lifted his own up parallel and I jumped onto her shoulder.

"Okaa-san, I- mission report" Kakashi straightened robotically "We wer-"

And with a ' _poof'_ of smoke, 'her', probably fūin-aided henge dropped.

 _fuckofcourceIwouldoverlookit_

Kakashi's kunai glinted in the moonlight as my jaw opened, revealing sharp, chakra strengthened teeth wet with webs of saliva-

 _Kakashi is part of the pack,_ ** _protect_** _the pack-_

Then the air turned to syrup, and we watched as _time, slowed,_ the air warped and _lifted_ , a strong _tug_ , like a fishing-hook reeling in the catch, through our back, joined to our navel-

 _Shunshin_

We arrived in a dark clearing in a circle of trees, where he attached and tightened chakra strings to us as light blue, shimmering ropes.

 _I don't remember Kakashi being kidnapped-_

He stood ramrod straight.

- _no, wait, Sakumo saves Kakashi 'at least once'_

 _Hopefully, Sakumo will arrive soon_

 _What the hell- how much chakra control does he have?_ Unless you're from Suna, chakra strings are basically party tricks.

We were attached (Yes, attached) to the arms of a nondescript short, stockily-built Iwa-nin, with a sandy-brown chūnin flak jacket.

The only defining feature was his warty nose.

Oh, and the smell of…

 _Eew_

Week-old dried blood.

 _The last time I smelt that was with Sakumo before he has a shower_

Hmm

 _I should be trying to kill him at this point_

The whole 'if you die, you live later' thing _kinda_ degraded my morals, no thanks to my god-knows how many reincarnations.

My hair bristled as I arched my spine, inching closer to our kidnapper-

And then, as if I was within a dog-shaped cage, I stopped.

 _Looks like these chakra strings have a set amount of slack_

" _Why"_ Luckily, our unnamed captor (I'm calling him 'Warty') didn't seem to have a ninken, or a ninken summoning contract.

" _What why?"_ I mean, as much as he is a genius, Kakashi just _randomly_ saying 'why' doesn't mean much to the average dude.

" _Why isn't he moving?"..._

"' _Why isn't he moving' indeed!"_

'Cause 'kashi had to _liven up_. I mean, his dad's gonna saved him, so I can goof around with that safety-net.

 _Though he doesn't know that_

As if Warty managed to listen to the voices I'd gone and projected into my head (More-or-less just talking to myself- with my mouth closed), he dashed off into the tree's, just as the majority of the Hatake clansmen (And clanswoman) burst into the clearing, trails of dust and pebbles following their sandaled feet as started trailing after him.

 _Well, that explains the movement_

Apparently, based on how they were gaining, carrying a magnificent-year-old German Shepherd and a four-year-old with half his weight in his hair slows you down.

( _Seriously_ , a plate fell on Kakashi's head once - _long_ story- and it shattered before it even came _close_ to his skull. I mean, his hair is practically a _bone_.)

Though, eventually, Kakashi's lack of aerodynamic-ness turned out to blame, as he managed to fix the distance between himself and the furious Hatake clansmen by moving Kakashi and his mile of hair.

Then the Inuzuka in the Hatake group popped their soldier pills, right before things got _serious._

The thing about chakra strings is: if you touch them, you can sense the user like the best of the Uzumaki sensory squad (It's a thing).

Normal people, Kakashi included, probably wouldn't have had even the slightest clue what was going on, but as a _summon_ , due to the way I _get_ summoned, (that I'm _not_ going into here), I did.

Yin chakra, rich with the mind and the light, and an unnatural smell of ozone and the crackle and hum of lightning flooded the fingers of his hand before he then pumped yang, full of _life_ , vitality, and the fresh smell of _earth_ into his palm-

"Ninpo:" His voice was a whisper on the wind "C1"- He opened his hand, and out of a Deidara-like mouth, came a dozen football-sized clay birds-

 _Heading towards the Clan Members-_

And then the world turned white _too white_ with the reverberating whisper of 'katsu' as ground erupted twenty feet into the air ,the tree's roots faced the sky and clumps of damp earth struck my nose with the smell of-

 _Blood_

My eye's _throbbed_ , but I could still feel them, resting under my thick eyelids.

 _I smell blood. Blood on my face._

 _Why is it so dark?_

 _Cling_

 _Clang_

"Urgh-" Then I _snapped_ awake as another explosion rocked the area where I stood seconds before, my four limbs slapping against dirt " _KAKASHI"._

My eye quickly surveyed the forest battle ground, skipping over the dead.

Yes, eye. I couldn't open my left, a thought that was just neatly compartmentalized till later.

I grimaced.

For every four dead clan shinobi, there is five Iwa shinobi. _But they have reinforcements, and we don't._

The only living people were untold numbers of Iwa shinobi, three clansmen and two clanswoman, ninken and toddler included.

Hibana is sick, _four capable shinobi._ Kakashi and I should honestly be in nurser _y, two cap-_

Blood splattered on a tree's trunk, spraying it with the heavy flow from a woman's jugular.

 _One capable shinobi._

Adrenaline or some other doggy substitute _poured_ into me like a second source of blood, my hair standing on ends as I bared my teeth.

 _Thepackthepack_ ** _protect_** _thepack_

My efforts were rewarded with a familiar scent with a familiar yang-chakra-induced buzz, like a high-energy pylon and an equally familiar shout of " _Satoru_ "

He sounded panicked.

"Satoru, your _face_ ".

 _Fuck_

Perhaps it was time to panic.

Perhaps it was time to go and lament my crippling injury. Perhaps it was time for Kakashi to deal with me not being his backup anymore.

 _But there is no time to think, no time to speak, no time to_ ** _breathe-_**

Then the air shifted, a burst of the yin and yang that I could sense popped up before it turned to chakra and camouflaged itself to my mind's eye.

My internal shout of _seven O'clock_ was mirrored by Kakashi as I dived away and into a tree, head first.

Normally, that would be funny for everyone _not_ called 'Satoru', however, in battle, that delays.

And delays kill.

Twenty feet of earth entered the air like a pebble in water, the earthen scent covering area

Then I heard the familiar tones of Hibana, her yin, yang and smell not tipping me off at all with her superior stealth:

Run, she said. Run far to the east, to Konoha's border with waterfall, and then head south to Konoha itself.

We tried to leave, but we were surrounded by twenty-or-so Iwa Shinobi before we could take a single step.

Warty lay dead on the floor with all but three of the Hatake clan members and several Iwa squads.

There were more casualties than that, I'm sure. But a single ninken nose and eye can only pick up so much.

 _Fuck_ I thought bitterly _if Sakumo was here…_

 _Wait_

"Hibana-san, why aren't you coming with us?"

Her familiar warmth shifted to our back, Kakashi, her and myself making a triangular formation with the slowly approaching Iwagakure Shinobi.

 _They_ ** _want_** _us to hear them coming. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to-_

A gruff voice sounded into the swirling air as stray leaves battered my face "We will give you one minute. You are young, crippled and sick. If you try to escape, the torture will only be worse".

Hibana stiffened, and with her words I realised that I'd never really _angered_ the ex-kunoichi. Pissed her off, sure!

But angered? Truly, truly _angered?_

Despite the crackle of sick lungs and the pregnant pauses between words as she struggles to breathe, her voice was filled with a steel that I'd never heard before.

And will never hear again, never to the same extent.

It never raised, and never quietened. It wasn't a rage-filled shout, or a feeble whimper.

It was pure, unwavering, _will_.

You can beat me, she said.

Hurt me,

Burn me,

Torture me,

Kill me-

And she finished with the crack of a soldier pill between teeth and a bloody cough.

" _But if you touch my sons, I will show you the wrath that only a mother can"_

And as a shadow clone carried us off, as timbers cracked and crashed, as metal clanged one, two, twenty times and limbs tore, fell, as the ground was decorated with sickening _splats_ and as Hibana, on death's doorstep fought with all the wrath of an angry god, we _moved_.

For four thousand beats of my heart, we dashed through the tree's Hibana's clone taking not one, or two, but _five_ of the fifty soldier pills that Kakashi and I had with us, when combined.

 _The chakra backlash when it dispels will be fatal_

Phah. Who am I kidding? The _chakra backlash_ isn't going to be the thing that kills her.

Then, after what could've been a somewhere between half an hour and three to four hours, Hibana's clone stopped, putting Kakashi and me down and curling into a ball as she breathed deeply and desperately.

She refused our water, as 'she was only a clone dear'.

Kakashi sounded broken, his voice tinny and punctuated with uncharacteristic sobbing.

And with a ' _poof',_ the clone disappeared, a kunai piercing through its head as tendrils of smoke curled and latched onto it, shooting outwards like the lifeblood from a man as a bullet pierces his head.

 _Well, I didn't want to be a martyr, but…_

Perhaps I can do something for Kakashi, one last time.

A dozen strands of shinobi-grade ninja wire wrapped us individually.

Deep in my mind, neurons fired as _yin_ formed and my heart pumped with a _dududuu_ ** _dub_** as it released a pulse of _yang_ chakra, trickling from it, the eighth gate to the first as _yin_ and _yang_ _pried_ my restraints open.

And with screaming nerves and muscles on fire, I _flexed_.

 _Ninpo: Four-Legs-Technique._

But there is a _reason_ why nin-taijutsu users train first.

 _My muscles snapped like an elastic band_

Liquid fire filled my bones as I frothed at the mouth, my chakra reaching for them in desperation, _pressing_ them to my tendon with a feeling like acid in a fresh wound.

And with an explosion of life energy, I _burst_ out of my prison, switching with a log-

Jumping over a kunai slash-

Jaws on his head-

And as a human skull _crunched_ under my teeth, the unnamed genin tore a kunai into my neck and tackled me to the ground, his dying, autonomous chakra blocking my escape.

Perhaps if I was Orochimaru, Kyuubi-enhanced Naruto, heck, even Kimimaro, things would've changed.

But for god's sake. _I couldn't move_.

I was no Hidan. I had no plot-armour.

I was a one-year-three-months-year-old puppy who had just, effectively, used a suicide jutsu.

 **And I was also a one-year-three-months-year-old puppy who** could've fucking waited for Sakumo

So while looking into familiar onyx eyes, blurred with tears and half-covered in his annoying whit- _silver_ hair, I died.

* * *

Faster than my eye could follow, a kunai buried itself to the hilt in Satoru's neck, severing his spine and making his blood erupt into the cold air.

He broke contact as he rolled over and he slumped unnaturally.

 _The world stopped._

As a shinobi landed on a tree behind me, the leaves rustling, I stared.

I should scream. I should cry. I should- do something.

 _I should feel something_

Am I broken? Satoru i-was my best friend. I should feel the loss. The pain.

 _Where is it? Why am I so calm?_

 _Callous_ , whispered my mind. _He was just a tool to you_ whispered my Mind.

So I whispered back "He wasn't a tool. He was my comrade-"

 _You didn't_ really _care for him._ whispered my Mind _After all-_

 _Shinobi should never show their tears, rule 25._

 _Shinobi are tools with no emotion, rule 31_.

But I'm not a shinobi yet.

 _So then you never cared about him to start off with._

I squeaked pitifully "But I did".

 _But you're weak. That killed him. You killed him._

My palms grew damp. I barely noticed the enemy shinobi's cooling corpse.

"I didn't kill him"

 _How didn't you kill him?_

I ignored the voice, don't worry, Tou-san, Kakashi-kun was alright, Kakashi-kun was _too alright_.

 _Weaklings like you don't deserve to be 'alright'_ whispered my Mind

I grasped the cheap, throwaway kunai lodged into my friend's body as I stooped, my long hair brushing his glassy eyes.

 _He would've blinked and said 'Kakashi-_

Nothing. He can't say anything. He's dead.

I still felt nothing.

I placed a small hand on the fur of his side, my left hand. I am right handed, and I don't want to risk damaging his corpse with a lack of dexterity.

My free hand grasped the blade by the handle

Glassy eyes stared into the grass at my feet.

Without a sound, _just like it went in_ , the kunai exited Satoru's neck, scarlet liquid covering my left hand, as it was still on him-

* * *

 _Satoru moaned "'Kashi you little bastard. Get this mud offa me, I've got a body covered in fucking fur-"_

 _Okaa-san crashed through the dojo wall like a demented bijū, wood chips flying everywhere._

" ** _Right_** _, who just-"_

* * *

 _Oka-san clapped, bouncing on the spot "Alright, today we are going to be practising the 'Tsūga'-_

* * *

-and the blood covered my tiny hand like a warm, red glove-

* * *

 _Yesterday was Aunty Miku's funeral._

 _Normally, I wouldn't say such things, but because Tou-san was on a mission, and Okaa-san was too sick and-_

" _Satoru, what happens when we die" I hurriedly added, "because we are shinobi?"_

 _Satoru scoffed playfully "'because we are shinobi', eh?"_

 _My ears burned._

 _In the bed beside me, Satoru rolled his warm, hot-water-bag-esque body towards me, his soft puppy coat tickling my sensitive skin._

" _Imagine a warm, comfortable place. It's just like being underwater, just the water is more like a hot spring, and less like a cold yucky river. It's… warm. I don't know what else to call it. After that is squeezing, and birth. Shortened, of course. Weird stuff happens in there"._

 _I hesitated and-_

" _How do you know this?"_

 _Satoru stiffened, then pricked his ears (as if he could actually catch Tou-san or Okaa-san) for a few minutes._

 _He stayed silent long past when I'd given up, and as I was falling asleep, he replied:_

" _Alright, Kakashi, I'll tell you. But please, don't tell anyone. It'll be way too awkward. You see, Kakashi, I have something that only I have. A bit like a Kekkai Genkai, but it's even more personal. You see, when I die-"_

* * *

I _breathed_ , and the thick, putrid, _horrible_ smell of blood entered my nostrils as I continued to stare at my hand.

At some point, Tou-san had picked me up, and we were hopping from tree to tree every few seconds, pausing after each jump and excessively cushioning our touchdowns. We were not even at _genin_ -level speed-

My hand was cold.

The Hand, The One. The One that was _glistening with blood_.

I _screamed_ , Tou-san diving after me as I jumped off his back-

The world blurred-

 _Getit_ ** _off_** _getitoffoff_ ** _offme-_**

Tou-san picked me up in midair, and gingerly put me down, saying something-

I plucked a leaf and rubbed my hand, but it _didn't come off_.

 _It's your fault, you know_ whispered my Mind _just a little faster, just a little stronger…_

 _You killed him_ whispered my Mind _you killed Satoru by being so weak, weakling._

 _Yes_ , I thought _I killed him._

 _I killed Satoru._

 _The pack will hate you_ whispered my Mind.

 _I killed my ninken partner._

 _The clan will hate you_ whispered my Mind.

I paused.

 _I killed my friend._

 _I hate me_

* * *

I stumbled, not used to having human feet-

"Welcome to the Mountains Graveyard, in the Limbo Dimension, child."

 _Perhaps I do have a kind of plot armour..._

* * *

 ** _Well…_**

' ** _I hate me'._**

 **I just went and depressed myself.**

 **Sorry about the delay, the whole thing was written on my phone, and I needed a**

 **computer to transfer the Google Docs to here.**

 **Yup. I'm not lying, this is the first time I can access my pc the whole week.**

 ***Sobs softly***

 **Anyways, self-pity aside, I ditched the majority of my pre-planned plot to really flesh out canon characters and ideas.**

 **You'll know when you get to it...**

 **Stay tuned, Jae Nae!**


	5. Glazing: Of Skulls & Tattered Scarecrows

**AN:**

 **Ken and Guest: As far as switching perspectives go, the best I can do for you is labelling each POV. A major reason** _ **why**_ **I write this fic is to be able to get into characters heads. Also, it's needed for the plot.**

 **Ken specifically:** **Don't you worry, action is** _ **easily**_ **one of my favourite things to write :P**

 **Satanic Secretary and Orlha: Thanks, reviews like yours really help me write. This chapter is now partially dedicated to both of you.**

 **Also, I'm confirming that,** _ **yes**_ **, I did delete a chapter. This is mainly because a lot of people were driven off by it.**

* * *

Pakkun

Death wasn't kind. I knew that. It snatched where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too good. It didn't pretend to care, it didn't pretend to distinguish.

The hooded vale of death had hung over the world for a long time, always threatening. It had never touched me quite so close.

It was dark.

My mind _snapped_ into place, as my eyes opened and scanned the room.

 _Good. Most of the pack's ninken are here_

" _Where is Satoru" I croaked "Where is Hibana, Sakumo and Kakashi?"_

Urushi moved forward, his muzzle brushing the bed as his eyes closed and his head dipped.

" _Kakashi and Sakumo are physically well. Satoru and Hibana are dead"_

I froze.

Then I tried to push myself up, but my side _burned_ as I yelped and fell back.

The pack rushed towards me, openly concerned but I shook my head.

My eyes watered for more reasons than one.

" _How?"_

A human voice spoke up from behind my bed, as familiar as my own.

"There was an ambush, Pakkun-kun. Satoru-kun and Hibana both fought till the end, evading enemy capture" His hair shadowed his eyes, voice hollow and hoarse "as- as heroes."

His empty words and voice only fueled the _but_ _ **I**_ _wastherethere_ _ **there**_ , and it seems like I'd said it when he embraced me as I cried, hot tears dripping onto the scratchy sheets like lava from a volcano.

" _Who"_ I hissed " _who did it"_.

As Sakumo let me go and looked me in the eyes, he whispered back-

"War, Pakkun-kun. War did it."

* * *

Satoru

I stumbled, not used to having human feet-

"Welcome to the Mountains Graveyard, in the Limbo Dimension, child."

 _Perhaps I do have a kind of plot armour…_

Then I thought-

 _I am dead, and I'm not being squished in a womb barely conscious, so-_

"What the _fuck_ am I?" The air in front of me _warped_ , and an old man-

 _The Sage of the Six Paths_

He tilted his head "How do you know that child? I have not activated my Rinnegan-" His brows furrowed as I felt _something, enter_ my head-

Then the world blurred as I fell over, slumping against the Sage before he moved me like I was a sheet of paper, as opposed to-

 _What_ _ **am**_ _I?_

Looking down, I was no longer in the canine form I was so used to, (I would've realised earlier, but my brain was kinda scrambled), I was in the form of a child.

Now, despite how magnificent this child had to be, nothing about me seemed particularly… magnificent.

"I'm average. Why am I average?" Because _I_ deserve more than _average!_ Bah!

The Esteemed Sage of the Six Paths, Saviour Of This World, Distributor of Chakra and Mighty Vanquisher of the Juubi and the Goddess Kaguya stretched his fingers over his forehead and sighed, eyes closed and face blank.

"You are dead. You are not average, or I would've _not_ have stopped you from reincarnating."

He waved his hand as he hovered in the air, legs crossing majestically as I fell head over arse as gravity cut out.

Well, until he straightened me out.

"The being known as 'Black Zetsu' has breached the space-time barriers in place, specifically the parts that pertain to 'time'. He does _not_ know that there are other beings that know about this, and is still loyal to my mother."

He raised his hand as a gentle _hum_ broke out into a deep roar, the wind howling in my face as I felt my body _melt_ , feet upwards, shivers running up my spine as the biting gale _touched_ the cross-sections of my body as I dissolved.

"My powers are limited due to unforeseen events. I barely have enough power to take a suitable candidate to be given my knowledge and give Indra and Asura my seal. Luckily, I need not tell you more. I cannot augment your power or their power. I cannot place you in clans with ties too strong to either of my sons, that will take far too much chakra."

And as my eyes and ears succumbed to the wind, I felt the world _shift_ , and with a ripple of cold-

* * *

Kakashi

I walked slowly and soundlessly, head down as I reached the freshly oiled gates.

 _Weakling_

They swung open with a high pitched _creak_ that would only be noticed to those with augmented hearing. My clan's only Kekkai Genkai if it can even be called that.

 _Well, it's not much of a 'clan', now, with all of two people._

 _If only I was stronger-_

I smoothly avoided bumping into a pedestrian.

I craned my neck, looking up.

'Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers', it said.

I walked in-

And there, with a long, flowing coat worn by only the very best of Shinobi, the greatest out of multiple generations, worn by three men to date, stood the Sandaime Hokage.

I bowed and instinctively-

"Hokage-sama, permission to speak."

He turned around a bemused smile on his visage, speaking softly as a Yamanaka packed a bag for him under the careful eyes of an ANBU behind him.

"Kakashi-kun, there is no need to be so formal. Now, tell me, what is child"

I still didn't meet his eyes.

 _Hokage-sama is the most powerful Shinobi in the village-_

"What's the opposite of 'weak', Hokage-sama?"

He relaxed, most likely linking our conversation to an unpleasant encounter with someone in the academy or the ilk.

"'Strong', Kakashi-kun."

"And how can you be strong, Hokage-sama?"

"By protecting those close to you, with a strong mind, body and will, with loyalty to your village and Hokage. If you think you are weak, Kakashi-kun, please don't be disheartened. You are young, and rigorous training with your father or even alone will rectify your perceived lack of strength very quickly."

 _By protecting those close to you_.

 _Then I've already failed._

My mind smirked at me _Yes, yes you have, weakling-_

"Kakashi-kun, are you alright?"

I straightened.

"Yes, thank you Hokage-sama. I was merely in thought."

And as I bowed a second time, turned and walked out, hands devoid of what I came here for, I thought-

 _If I become truly strong, perhaps I will never lose anyone else ever again._

 _Perhaps I will never have to go through this, ever again._

And those were the thoughts running through my mind as I punched logs till they broke and splintered, digging into my soft skin, as I kicked tree's over and over again, built calluses on my shins, feet and hands, and trained myself to till the world turned dark and I slumped on the ground.

I never noticed my father's gentle hands pick me up.

And I never questioned why I woke in my bed for more than a heartbeat.

* * *

Satoru

-I collapsed to the ground awkwardly, arms and legs flailing as I tried to stand up.

"Here" Looking up, an old man with brilliant, blue eyes and an identical coat to the Sage extended his hand to me.

I took it.

"Wh-Thanks. Who are you?" I was seemingly standing on… nothing.

Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but a paper-white background.

No earth. No trees. No sky.

 _No people_

 _Well, apart from the Sage's imposter-_

He chuckled, a deep but amused sound, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"My name is Hamura, and technically, both I _and_ my brother are Sages…" _Satoru_ "Satoru-kun".

I looked him in the eye while tilting and scratching my head.

"How do you know what I'm thinking?"

"It's a side-effect of, well, 'hosting' this dimension."

- _Hamura Otsutsuki, twin brother of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Satoru-kun-_

"..."

"Yes, Satoru-kun?"

"Did you just… violate my head?"

 _This-_ I thought, feeling slightly violated, _this is why we need the right to privacy-_

I sighed after a more cheery 'yes, Satoru-kun!' and started stretching.

"Why am I here?"

A serious expression filled his faces as he gestured to come closer.

I felt him separating a tiny thread of his _yang_ chakra, (that was about sixty times more than I had at the best of times, granted)-

As the tension built up, he slapped his hand down on the floor, and a series of seals spread out, before a red barrier that was the size of a small mountain and in the shape of a rectangle shot up.

"Four Red Yang Barrier" He whispered.

 _What the fuck did I get myself into-_

"-I have no clue. But it's fun watching you get so tense!"

…

 _I-I-_

" _Why did you_ _ **do**_ _that_ " He laughed, the barrier - _that's fucking able to stop a Bijūdama-_ collapsed with a slight puff.

"As I said, _why not._ I mean, you're too _uptight! Relax!._ "

"I have to get to Kakashi"

His face dropped, before turning sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, about that…" He looked around quickly "Bye!."

 _I hope you get castrated-_

And with a pulse of chakra, I was gone.

* * *

Unknown

 _Nonono_ _ **no**_

My hands were tied tightly, the rough cloth cutting into my skin. My legs were also similarly bound, and I was gagged with what appeared to be a mud-covered stone wrapped in dirty cloth.

Against all of my instincts, I didn't squirm.

 _For the Clan-_

I bit back a scream as I forced my fingers to _break,_ the sound alerting the shinobi carrying me.

I was thrown against the nearest tree harshly.

 _For the Kaguya-_

My chakra split, yin returning to my coils, yang pushing into my bones, hardening them.

 _Extending them_

My y _in_ chakra sealed the cuts formed by my forearm bones replicating and extending, as I forced the structure to _warp_ , a dull blade forming in my newly-fixed and trembling fingers.

And with a loud, guttural roar, I _charged_ forward, the area turning to just me and the Iwa Shinobi, my arm and my bone extending fluidly-

I blinked.

-and the explosive seal slapped to my back _detonated_ , the blast forcing my young body to _shoot_ forwards, impaling me on a nearby branch.

 _Then the pain kicked in_

I _screamed_ as my bones shook and my stomach heaved.

 _There is one last thing I can do-_

I forced the remainder of my yang chakra to my hand and flipped the bird at the smirking Iwa shinobi.

Then the tip of my finger _exploded_ , a thin spray of blood slowly ejected into the air as the world froze and my bone bullet pierced his chest.

And then the _yang,_ _acted_ , and long, wickedly sharp bones the size of arms and legs _erupted_ from the little, inch-sized bullet, tearing his throat open, and spraying dark green stomach juices over the ground.

He coughed, and blood, thick and black, poured from his mouth like a grotesque syrup.

And as his lifeblood rushed out of his ruptured chest, I grinned a bloody grin as I died.

 _For the Kaguya_

* * *

Sakumo

While the sun shone brightly, the air was cold with pain and regret.

I watched as the assembled crowd of Shinobi, composed of the civvie-born kunoichi and Uchiha teammate of her team and a good amount of Inuzuka pushing up the numbers.

"I have gathered you all here toda-" I droned through the bland, pre-set speech.

 _How is Kakashi coping?_

My boy wasn't taking it well, as expected. But, after all, it was his _mother_. _And_ his ninken partner. _And_ his clan.

Thankfully, Sandaime-sama took it from there.

The Hokage is almost always present in a shinobi's funeral, especially if the shinobi in question was over Chunin.

Even in war, when funerals were not for an individual, but for battalions as a whole.

 _Or a clan_

Or a clan.

Kakashi was always a little… distant. A little more mature than you would've expected, but that was fine.

 _It was his own decision._

But now, instead of half-heartedly following the Shinobi rules, he has _engrained_ them into his life.

I glanced at my boy.

 _It doesn't look like it_ , I decided. It doesn't _look_ like Kakashi had mourned any more than a month, but the truth is that he had developed… strange habits.

 _Coping habits_

For example, every time we had an Inuzuka clan member over, ninken included, he would apologise, leave, and wash his hands, compulsively.

For _hours_.

 _Coping habits are meant for veterans,_ _ **not**_ _civilians,_ _ **not**_ _four-year-olds, and_ _ **not**_ **my** _ **Kakashi**_

It seems like I wasn't the only person to have taken after my father.

 _And even more concerningly-_

Every time Kakashi came back from training, he needed a trip to the hospital, and at least two minutes with an iryo-nin.

That isn't healthy.

 _Your drinking isn't healthy_

Yes, however, Kakashi is a _child_

 _Don't fool yourself, Sakumo. Kakashi wasn't a child from the moment you gave him a rubber kunai to teeth on._

…

"Sakumo-san, any words?"

My mouth felt dry, my throat constricted and I felt as if I had thick, adamantine chains _weighing_ me down.

"No, but thank you, Hokage-sama"

He gave me a sad but supportive smile.

"Very well, those of immediate family may stay, I advise others to withdraw, and return later"

Then he walked all of fifty feet before joining the next funeral.

* * *

Satoru POV

I was about two meters above some thin, widely-spaced tree's roots.

I looked down-

 _-I seem to have been impaled?. Why am I impaled?_

Then it set in.

I accidentally violently threw myself headfirst off the branch in shock.

A section of my yin _moved,_ a hundered times more fluid than I could've ever imagined half a day ago, my torso numbing.

And the birds in the tree's took off in flight with the " _What the fucking fuck"_ that pierced into the silence.

 _Iam_ _fucking_ _impaledthroughmy_ _stomach_

I've been alive for all of two seconds.

 _Really, Hamura? Really?_

 _Then the yin stopped._

I grit my teeth and bit back a scream as a thin, terrible, lancing pain coupled itself with a dull, horrific _throb_ that came and went with the frantic beats of my racing heart.

"Holy shit" I whimpered.

When I expected to be reborn, I did _not_ expect this.

"Hamura-teme" I shouted, "This is a joke, right?"

And the only things that answered me were the soft drips of blood coming out some rapidly cooling corpse.

 _I'm going to die after living for all of five seconds. Way to go, Satoru!_

Then my _yin,_ all _my yin,_ _twisted,_ rushing towards the site of impalement with all the force of a roaring tsunami-

-and with a stagger, the giddiness of a sudden lack of yin, and a loud, hissing, spitting sound like boiling water being thrown onto a red-hot iron, the pain stopped.

I looked down.

And lo and behold, everything but the upper layers of skin of my wound had closed off, leaving a pale, pinkish, tender-to-touch tissue behind.

I would know it's tender, because _I fucking touched it_

 _owowowo_ _ow_

I am such an _idiot_ sometimes.

 _Owow_ _ow_ _makeitfucking_ _stop_

Imagine a paper-cut.

Now imagine twenty.

Now imaging twenty-thousand.

"I am an idiot", I said, whimpering "I am a colossal moron"

My shirt brushed against my skin.

I turned the air blue.

Roughly after declaring myself a 'colossal bellend I tried something stupid.

I repeat: _stupid_

 _Hey. While being impaled wasn't fun, at least my strangely-medical yin chakra was numbing it_

 _Was. Note the 'was'_

I pulled on my _yang_ , twisting it-

Right.

 _-Now, what's the difference between yin and yang?_

My thought process went something like- _Yin is of the mind. Yang is of the body. Therefore, yin is from my brain, and my brain is part of my body, so-_

I pushed yang into my stomach, visualising a plate of skin.

 _And a plate of fucking bone grew there_.

If nothing, the pain stopped.

" _Whatwhatthefuck"_

I-I-

 _I don't honestly even know what to say at this point_

Around half an hour later, I realised I could command the bone to retreat into my body, dissolving it.

And lo and behold, I had fresh skin!

And my yang chakra coils filled back to full.

 _Now, I have a ton more yin and yang than I used to have, so I can probably reinforce my body enough to use tree-hopping all the way to Konoha._

Right.

By a 'ton' the Uchiha, Hyūga, heck, even the Hatake and the Yamanaka clan kids had more than I do. But it's more than what I had as a puppy.

 _I'm in Iwa territory if that Iwa-nin I saw earlier had anything to do with anything. So, I should head east to Taki, which is neutral, but unofficially allied with Konoha. Then, I can head down to Konoha._

I pumped _yin_ and _yang_ in my coils, _twisting_ them-

Nothing happened.

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

 _Perhaps it's because of my new body._

I repeated this, twisting them like play-dough and _kneading_ it, _churning_ it-

 _-fuck_

Chakratic incompatibility, is what it's called.

 _Chakratic incompatibility is a result of being exposed to too much foreign yin chakra at an early age, or having most of one's yin replaced entirely. Examples include those born in close proximity to a Bijū outbreak, or those whose bodie's chakra systems are oversaturated with foreign yin from a novice iryo-nin._

"Fuck" I muttered

Well, Lee and Gai managed to reach jōnin-

 _-with the eight gates, one of the most powerful jutsu in the world._

 _Well, at least I seem to have-_ with my muscle memory, I pumped yang chakra to my hand, visualizing a gleaming, razor-sharp alabaster sword-

A dull, cylindrical pole of bone three-quarters of the size I intended shot out.

 _-the Dead Bone Pulse, one of the world's most powerful taijutsu Kekkei Genkai._

…

"It seems pretty crappy for such a coveted piece of shit" I muttered under my breath.

And it's worse than the eight gates.

 _I hope I don't die of inbreeding like Kimimaro._

Or lung cancer. Or AIDS. Kimimaro seemed to have died to at least _one_ of them.

 _Ooh, ohh- and iryo-nin can't heal ya cause of our different bone structure. Kabuto said so._

But then again, Kabuto's a sneaky piece of shit. He would've let Kimimaro die just to be 'rochies No.1-

 _-I'm getting off track. We need to head home. East to Taki, then south to Konoha._

"Right, let's do this- again"

I pumped yang, _pure_ yang to my feet and-

I shot through the trees like a bullet, my skin being sliced open by the whiplash of thin tree branches-

 _-Owowow_ _ow_ _papercut-_

-before I _slammed_ into a tree branch, my shoulder popping out of my socket-

 _I don't feel any pain. Why don't I feel any pain?_

I guess Kimimaro taking his spine out of his back and using it like a whip relied a little less on pain tolerance then I thought-

And with a mighty _ba_ _thump_ , twenty tons of oak crashed into the ground, broken into two pieces with the impact, turf throwing itself out of the way as wood groaned like a felled giant, birds leapt and flew from their perches, thousands of chirps sounding into the air like a terrified scream.

I took a shaky step back, slipping and falling onto my arse.

 _Bloody fucking hell._ Why _am I_ alive _?_

 _I guess my augmented skeletal strength is the real reason why my new Kekkai Genkai is so important._

Actually, that's right. Orochimaru wanted it because it was epic for blunt force trauma, and, well, Tsunade is the queen of blunt force trauma.

 _So I'm more of a hit-tank than a glass-cannon._

However, I can't actually _kill_ someone if I can't do anything more than stab them with kunai and beat them to death.

I mean, I would be able to do civilians, sure.

But shinobi? _Forget it._

 _Well, I know how a shoulder's bones is meant to be like, with my intact one being, well, intact._

If nothing, I passively got a much more… in-your-face kinda thing for my bones, as opposed to them being basically unnoticeable, sans pain from injuries.

With a feeling that's oddly satisfying, like popping bubble-wrap, or picking your nose, my shoulder _popped_ back into place, the thick, clean, loud sound being more like throwing a large rock into water than the _crack_ and sharp, intense pain that I expected.

 _So, I am the king of surviving blunt-force trauma. What about blades?_

I poked my finger into my arm, the alien feeling of hard, but easily sliceable muscle poking back.

Then I had an idea.

I stood up.

 _Brain, hold my beer_

I visualised, instead of an unnatural, straight, sharp longsword, a curving rib with a sharp end, pushing the image into a small portion of my yang-

-Then I _pushed_ it to the centre of my right palm.

It tickled.

And then, painlessly, my skin parted cleanly and a curved stake of bone exited my hand.

With a blunt, but vaguely usable end.

 _Hallelujah!_

 _It'll do absolutely shit for a shinobi's passive chakra shields, but as far as civilians go, it'll do just fine._

Then with a deep breath, I disconnected it from my hand, fluidly dropping it before wrapping my fingers around the blades middle like I'd been doing it my whole life, plunging it into my left forearm-

With a _hiss_ of pain, my skin parted, but before it touched my muscle, I panicked and a thin, but strong sheet of bone formed like a plate of armour

 _Fuck yeah_

 _It needs conscious thought, and time, but_ _it can be done._

Then I fell over and the bone plating cracked.

 _And it went through my fucking arm-_

 _-owowowow_ _ow-_

-and with a _hiss,_ my yin went and depleted itself, stitching the wound after my yang formed bones to _push_ the object out, pausing when it 'realised' it was just my bone before pushing it out anyways, the bone dissolving back into yang chakra as it exited my skin.

I stumbled as the pain disappeared, my yin reserves even lower than before.

 _Shitshit_ _shit-_

- _Yin and Yang chakra are generated primarily in sleep, as that is when chakra consumption is at a low._

Right.

Well, I can make a stick. I can make a semicircle. I can make a really bunt-ass pokey-thing.

 _How do I know that?_

I shrugged the errant thought aside. It holds no relevance, and besides, I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

 _Now..._

Failing to make a boney hammock, that'll probably be uncomfortable as fuck anyways, I strung some of the cleaner vies around the place, tying them together with two 'ribs' of bone that I fused together to form a circle, with the vines inside.

I repeated this on the other end of the vines before forming two semicircles of bone (four mini-stakes altogether by this point), stabbing them deep into a pair of suitable tree's, (that took some punches to sink in) before fusing them with the two bone-band-abominations and lying down on/in it.

I let out a contented sigh.

Then my contraption collapsed.

Swearing profusely, I absorbed the broken bones and tied a normal hammock like an ordinary person.

* * *

Two hours later

The hammock collapsed again.

 _Well, the floor looks_ _real_ _comfortable right now…_

* * *

Unknown to myself, far, far behind me, the flag of Konoha waved in the wind.

And in front of me waved the flag of Uzu, and further still, Kiri.

* * *

I was shaken awake at dark O'clock.

Groaning, I turned to the side.

"Pakkun you little shit, fuck off."

An unfamiliar voice chuckled as I snapped to attention, pulling my yang for a burst of speed and jumping to all fours.

 _Wait, no. I'm a human now._

Right-

I straightened out and rubbed the back of my neck, grinning sheepishly.

I subtly pushed my yang into my left palm, something that could cautiously be called a cylinder with an end a few centimeters in diameter slowly forming.

Behold, ye puny mortals! This is my mighty alabaster blade!

"So, what can I do for you-" I glanced around "Ladies and Gentleman?"

 _A 'blade' my arse. This is roughly as useful as a piece of shit on a stick-_

A voice rang out from behind me, sharp and openly aggressive, making my hairs stand on end-

"I would advise retracting that sharpened bone, _Kaguya_ , or I will will use lethal force"

' _Sharpened'? 'Sharpened'? This is why Kiri needs proper education._

I shivered reflexively and complied.

Three of the seven- eight shinobi around me shot a threatening smirk at me.

 _Like a crowd of bullies_

 _Fuck. I know that smirk. I'm going to get my ass handed to me._

An auburn-haired Kunoichi tutted as she strode forward a step.

"Kaguya-kun is simply afraid, and therefore did that reflexively. Am I right, Kaguya-kun?".

Her words were kind, but there was something in her eye that muted me as I nodded.

Then, without taking her eyes of me she spoke "Ao, monitor him for lies".

I staggered as the colour drained out of the air, the surroundings turning to a mixture of blacks, whites and grays as the only other colour that remained was the kunoichi's red hair.

Then the _fear_ hit me like a freight train.

 _Killing intent_

She smirked, her body flickering and giving me momentary respite before she soundlessly arrived in front of me.

If I was thinking straight, I would probably have tried to sneak a peek at her melons like the perv I was.

 _Then again, she would probably kill you after-_

Worth it.

"Now, now, Kaguya-kun" She _purred_ "I know I am a very ...visually pleasing figure, but I am sure you wish your internal organs to stay-" She prodded me with a little more force than necessary in the gut, almost making me double up "-here, no?" She tilted her head, smirking.

"Now, are you loyal to Kiri?" Well…

 _Hatake Satoru is loyal to Konoha, which is probably at war with Kiri, and therefore hates Kiri very much. Kaguya Satoru is just a little, six year old boy who got kidnapped out of Kiri, and is very, very loyal to his clan._

I'm meant to be _six?!_

I opened my mouth, and my monotone, slightly brainwashed voice sounded out "I am loyal to the Kaguya. The Kaguya is loyal to Kiri."

"Good" She smiled darkly with a hint of _youbetter_ _fucking_ _keeptothat._

 _If I'm six, why does she think I'm going to ogle her? I am less than half way till the freight train otherwise known as puberty hits me in the gut._

A sneering, haughty voice piped out from behind the kunoichi "And what if the Kayuya betrayed Kiri? What if the used their _kekkai genkai_ for a coup?"

 _Shitshit_ _shit_ _, humanity can't deal with_ _three_ _differing_ _skin colours_ _, for god's sake._

I should've realised that if there was a genetic, _visible, actually-fucking-mattering,_ combat-affecting difference between people, racism would've taken a much worse turn.

"I say we should let him die. What difference will one more body in a sea of corpses make?"-

-Fuckfuck _fuck_ _fuck_ -

-and the kunoichi's kunai sank hilt-deep into his forehead.

The air turned to normal as the killing intent drained away.

I shivered anyway, holding back a puke.

"Insubordination" she muttered, an unreadable look on her face "and yes- 'What will one more body in a sea of corpses make'- indeed."

"No-one" Despite it barely being above normal speech, her words boomed through the clearing with malicious force "Will, Ever, I repeat, Ever, backtalk to me" She paused "Apart from Ao, to a certain extent. Unless he calls me old. Then I'll kill him" She laughed openly, and the one-eighty only served to unnerve us further.

She rolled her eyes and turned to the tree's my hammock behind her.

"Come on, slowpokes. Places to see, thing to do, people to kill. Chop-chop."

And then from her clone picking me up and placing me on it's shoulders piggy-back style to setting up camp three hours later, no one said a word.

* * *

The kunoichi was on watch with another shinobi, the latter being on the other side of camp.

"What is your name?" I blinked blearily but replied anyway "Kaguya Satoru"

I yawned, oddly comfortable with the person who had threatened my life and murdered someone in front of me.

"What's yours" She seemed slightly taken aback by me replying so quickly and openly, but she smiled softly anyway "Terumī Mei".

 _Whattheshit_

Well.

 _Damn_

I expected many things. This was _not_ one of them.

 _Well_ I reasoned _If it happens, I'll be under her command in the Fourth Shinobi war, so I should probably take this chance-_

"Why do those Shinobi hate people like us anyway?" She _froze_ and I mentally slapped myself.

He face darkened and she whispered under her breath " _How do you know that, little one"_ I panicked- "Your chakra. The yin and yang are all weird"

Her eyes widened.

"How are they weird, child?"

 _Mei has two Kekkei genkai: Lava and Boil release. The lava is with earth and fire. It has an acidic nature. The boil is with fire and water. It has an acidic nature too._

"It feels… hot. Very hot. And cold, like water. And crumbly, like earth. An-"

She dropped the glare while looking around nervously.

Now I have somewhat of an upper hand-

"I saved your life, kid"

 _-unless she kills me_

"Yes you did. Thank you"

Well. _Shit_.

"So tell-" She pushed her face towards mine until our noses touched "No-one. Do you understand me? _No-one._ "

"No-one" I squeaked, before clearing my throat "So they won't do to you what they wanted to do to me?"

She nodded.

"So won't do to me what they wanted to do to you."

She paused before stretching nonchalantly

"You're a strange kid, Satoru."

* * *

The next day Mei (who was apparently the team leader) split off to head back to Kiri with Ao as an escort.

I guess it's because they found me. Kaguya with an active kekkai genkai are rare, after all.

 _If I didn't have the kekkai genkai, I would most likely be dead._

Now _that's_ a morbid thought.

...actually, as far as 'morbid' stuff goes, this is actually pretty mild. At least, compared to Mei, and the corpse I saw when I was reborn-

-into what was probably a corpse.

 _Lovely_

After a few minutes of travel, me piggybacking on Mei, Ao shot ahead of us and held up a closed fist.

We stopped.

"Mei" Ao started "I can sense a group of people"

Mei placed me down and started rubbing her shoulders, probably to get blood flow back.

"Report" Ao locked eyes with Mei.

"There is eight individuals, one with Jōnin-level reserves and presence. There are three individuals with chūnin level reserves, of which one with Jōnin level presence. There is five with Genin level reserves, of which two with chūnin level presence."

"Estimated rank?"

"Jōnin, one. Veteran. chūnin , three. One seems to be a veteran. Genin five, two seem to be veterans."

Mei cursed under her breath like a good indoctrinated follower of movie protagonists.

"Are they heading towards us?"

A tree crashed next to use as a clump of earth struck it.

"Satoru"

I hesitated "Hai"

"Are you of Genin level rank or power? If you lie- you die. Battle is not something I would advise going into unprepared"

On one hand, I could be a shinobi. _On the other hand, I could die._

 _I'm sorry, I like this body enough to not essentially commit suicide_

"I am not of Genin rank or power, though I can regenerate wounds to the point of not being fatal. I kinda can't use chakra though."

Ao dropped his kunai in apparent shock before quickly stooping and grabbing it out of the air.

"That is an extremely strong level of inheritance for your kekkei genkai, however, it renders you unable to mould chakra. I strongly advise keeping the child out of combat, though it can allow you to survive fatal wounds a, it barely compensates for the inability to use Kamawari. It should suffice for keeping him alive."

 _Oi! That's what I fuckin' said!_

"Well said, Ao. Move out" And with a silent flicker, Mei and Ao shunshined to the upper levels of a tree on the edge of my sight, overlooking a clearing.

I saw the edge of Mei ad Ao's shared smirk.

 _Hey! Not fucking fair. I call child abuse!_

I paused, only _coincidentally when_ boredom hit me like a flying brick.

 _If I stay here_ I reasoned _I could be too far away to get help._

It's not like I want to get to see that jōnin-class action. Not at _all_.

I started to pump yang to my feet before I shook my head and absorbed it back into my coils.

 _Right_

If I create bone, when it dissolves, I get all my yang back. So, it isn't a bad idea to create, say a shield.

So, while trotting over to Mei and Ao at civilian-level speeds, I tried (And failed, utterly), to create a shield.

 _This is stupid! I can create a stake, I can create weird, curly shit, and I can't create a shield!_

No, wait, I can create a plate of bone-

-on my body.

 _So, I can create the stake because I am creating it as it leaves my body. I can create a curly-thing because it's actually just a stake that's more curved and joined. I can create a plate because my body is subconsciously doing it,_ _on my body_ _._

And, if I push into my as-of-yet-ignored memories, I could already do that.

 _Shit_

 _Apparently, using the curvey-stake is for pinning victims to trees, or, if I'm strong enough, stone by the neck, and doing the same to their hands and feet for torture._

 _Shit_

Apparently, at the age of- six, Junichi the Kaguya had tortured, and killed someone.

Two someone's. One was his brother.

This is sick. And not in the good way.

Oh, and Junichi the Kaguya was under a fūin-aided transformation to look ten years old.

Oh, and his name meant _The obedient one._

Oh, _and he'd already fucking tortured someone_.

And the dead dude I saw earlier was killed by _him_.

 _What the_ _fucking hell_ _is_ _wrong_ _with these people_

Six! Six! _Kakashi_ is six!

My blood boiled.

If my fūin is on my left hand-

"Mei" I whispered, lightly tapping the trunk of the tree she was on.

She flickered down.

"I am under a fūin to look older" She frowned.

"I'd say you look ten to twelve. How old are you?"

"Six"

Her eyes widened in open shock before narrowing in thought.

"It might distract our opponents -Konoha shinobi, they're called 'tree-huggers' for a reason- if you assume your image at six, Satoru-kun."

I nodded.

My seal was carved into my skin as a series of scars. My transformation had two levels, one could be dismissed by me, it hid the scars of on my left hand. To override the other level required the skin on my forearm and hand to be cut off.

 _Well, shit._

On one hand, I can get it back. _It'll fucking hurt._

 _And it's my best shot at living._

"Do you have a ball of cloth or something?" She nodded, handing me a roll of medical gauze.

And after dropping the drop-able level of my transformation, _including pain resistance_ , I held out my arm and looked into her eyes as she sliced the flesh and blood and skin from my arm and hand.

And by fuck it _burned_.

White-hot pain rushed through my now tiny body as my skin _wobbled_ , micro-vibrations feeling like lime in an open wound as I tipped my head back and _screamed_ into a cold hand as my body throbbed with pain and _fear_.

 _This is **so** much **worse** than being impaled it ain't even funny_

As three-hours worth of sleep's yin tried to rectify the damage, the pressure on my mouth let off as a soldier pill dissolved in water was pushed down my throat.

It went into my lungs, and with a _horrifyingly_ intrusive maneuver, got saturated with chakra, and _lifted,_ forcing it's way to my stomach like a swat team kicking into the home of a mafia boss.

It turns out that the jōnin was a missing-nin, and my muffled screams broke the brief stand off.

Three white-hot fireballs roared into existence twenty feet above my head from the mouths of the three chūnin as they jumped, a perfect triangle around the Nuke-nin.

The jōnin's byakugan flashed, veins covering his temples as his kimono's large sleeves billowed rippled, heavily with chakra, as he raised his hands.

"Fools. _Kaiten"_ He jumped a foot off the earth, chakra spinning his body as he expelled chakra fast enough to create a perfectly-shaped spherical defense.

The three balls of fire _explode,_ torn apart and whipped around, elongated and simply added to the already formidable defence like a fire hose hitting a tornado.

The ball swelled, and the fire propelled itself in an expanding sphere with the raw force of a supernova, aided by his _Fūton: Drilling Air Bullet._

For a split second, the world freezes, the five genin on the ground flinching as the massive elemental attack swells.

And then, with a pulse of energy, it _detonates_.

The gentle sounds of nature are viciously wiped away as the world turned white and a sharp, ringing noise fills my head.

The taste of iron, thick and heavy, fills my mouth.

I scream, but all I can feel is the vibration of my throat.

I stagger into a tree.

And then my yin kicks in, in a matter of seconds my hearing is restored.

My eyes snap open.

The force kicks a shower of scorched earth upwards, the thin rings of fire emitted slashing through the air like ten thousand streaks of blurry lightning, lighting the forest ablaze.

Four of the five genin stumble out of various parts of the wood, random logs of wood taking their place.

Four fist-sized pieces of charcoal black flesh lie scattered across the ground.

A I tried to gulp away the ball of lead that had seemingly formed in my throat.

As the last slips of chakra disperse, a spiky-haired chūnin with his hitai-ate on a bandanna rushed in with a shunshin, flickering to the jōnin's still spinning form with a fūton-enhanced kunai-

-the blade sank through the Hūga like a hot poker sinking through butter.

Then, with a _puff_ of the kage bushin dispelling, the nuke-nin rushed in, hand covered in a blue glow as the chūnin struggled to get away.

He made it a single step before a jūken strike hit him in the face.

His skin turned a light brown as he grinned and started to flake away.

"You can't kill a clone, Hūga-san"-

-I blinked-

-a pair of hands were grasping the jōnin's feet as he closed his eyes and deactivated his byakugan.

 _That's the jutsu Kakashi used on Sasuke-_

-a pair of the genin rushed over to the immobilized jōnin as the chūnin 's clone slapped a chakra-suppression tag on him-

-the two remaining chūnin threw a dozen shuriken each and with a cry of _Kage shuriken no jutsu_ , multiplying the number by a factor of ten.

One of the younger genin pulled out a three-sided fūma shuriken bigger than his actual body as the all of the remaining genin pelted him with an assortment of kunai, shuriken and senbon.

A single drop of sweat fell off the peak of my chin as the world slowed.

The jōnin's eyes snapped open, his byakugan activating with a visible pulse of chakra as he slapped the genin's heads with enough force to decapitate them before _jumping,_ the force lifting the chūnin out of the ground as he soared through the air, the chūnin 's dirt-covered legs thrashing like the roots of an uprooted tree.

As the chūnin let go, his body rising just above the Hūga, the latter's arms _blurred,_ hitting the chūnin one, two, twenty times before kicking him hundreds of meters into the sky.

Than he took off the chakra-suppressing tag and ricocheted back to earth.

My drop of sweat shattered as it hit the dry earth.

I backed up till I bumped into Mei, mumbling an apology as the other shinobi realized one thing:

They were _fucked._

The Hūga's hands _blurred_ with an even faster speed, pure _yang_ shooting off his hands with the supersonic force of a sniper's bullet.

The chūnin rolled out of the way as the _vacuum palms_ demolished their weaponry, tearing the fifty-kilo fūma shuriken into two pieces with the same blow that made a genin's face _detonate_.

 _It was a massacre._

Two balls of fire roared their way onto the battlefield as the genin managed, impressively, a water dragon as a combination jutsu.

Without a source, to boot. Took 'em all forty seals and two sets of chakra's, but they _did it._

And with the cool detachment of a killer, the jōnin blasted them apart with jūken strike after jūken strike, targeting the dragon last, smothering the flames dancing on his sleeves.

Two, presumably, veteran genin are left. And two chūnin .

 _There is no way in hell they're going to live._

Then one of the chūnin said something that shocked me to the core, piercing _right_ by my mental defences.

"If my daughter saw me go without a fight" His long, stretched, purple facial tattoos stretched even more as he grinned savagely "Well, I don't know _what_ she'll say, but Rin-chan ain't gonna be impressed, that's for sure".

A solid _crunch_ sounded out as a fully grown man's body _smashed_ into a tree, spine snapping and glassy eyes staring into my own accusingly.

With a 'poof' of chakra, Ao arrived, swiping low as the chūnin jumped high, his generic Konoha garb catching on the end of the simple kunai wielded by his adversary.

Ao shifted his weight onto one foot, before _twisting,_ parallel to the ground, his momentum and tremendous strength pouring into a bone-shattering kick that was met with the chūnin forming an 'x' with his hands, fists closed as the solid sound of flesh hitting flesh and the unmistakable crack of broken arms and ribs sounded out.

The chūnin let out a raspy chuckle as blood trailed out of his mouth.

Without using his hands, forearms snapped at an unnatural ninety-degree angle like a piece of putty hitting that had hit the side of a wall, he _rose,_ seamlessly spitting fire as Ao tilted his head and coolly dodged the last-ditch jutsu.

And then the chūnin, very _purposefully,_ did the _one_ thing a katon-user should _never_ do.

He shot out a mighty, white hot ball of flame, and with a muted battle cry, ran _faster_ than the flame-

-in the same direction of it.

And then the flaming, dying man jumped onto Ao's back as a _pop_ sounded out and an unremarkable log got burnt to cinders.

 _According to statistics, there is a one-in-two chance that Rin has been orphaned now…_

And as the Hyūga rushed to Mei's side, as the last chūnin and two genin yells filled the air, as the ground rumbled, the air trembled, spurts of brilliant flame lit the darkening skies in startling yellows and deep bloody reds, a stray clump of earth hit the side of my head and I collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

I am, after all, six years old.

At least, physically.

* * *

 **hope that those of you upset with the POV changing understand why now- I am working with two to three locations.**

 **Additionally, this story's up-and-coming plot points have some that are fic-worthy in-and-of-themselves, so changing the P in POV is essential to getting the most out of it.**

 **Rest assured though, unless I manage to pull it off (unlikely),** _**if**_ **Sakumo dies (still on-the-fence for that one) I will probably not do a Sakumo POV. No-one likes to get into the head of someone who wants to die.**

 **See you next chapter, Jae Nae!**

 **[The next chapter is being done, sorry for the delays. I know that the original chapter doesn't need any fusing with the next, I'm just trying to make it a little more fluid. As said earlier, this was a bit more of a draft than a _proper_ chapter, something that I'm going to try to rectify a little bit more. I have a solid few hours, so if it isn't done, I'll have the bulk of it, all I'll have to do is go through it a few times a day.]**


	6. Glazing: Of Thunder Gods and Attachment

**AN: From the bottom of my heart, I am** _ **so sorry**_ **about the accidental false-update. I didn't think that would've been flagged as one, since I (thought?) all I did was cut a chapter out, join two documents, and update the previous chapter with the next one's content.**

 **This chapter is a little short and a little angsty, but it builds up the character/s that undergo this angst, so it's needed.**

 **For the 2.2k update, as opposed to my previous whopper of a 7-8k and my average of 3-3.5k, I had to cut out a load of waffle/general bull from my fic, and this chapter, shortening it and my time.**

 **On the plus side, those of you who re-read this get to have some better chapters 1-3, which is always a plus.**

 **The difference isn't much, but I'll fix that in a proper rewrite. It's just those three chapters, after all.**

 **Anyway-**

 **Onwards!**

 **Trigger warning: Violence and Mental Anguish making this toe the line with an M.**

* * *

" _In order to save something dear… Wars are waged. As long as there is love, there would be hate" - Namikaze Minato_

* * *

 _Chapter 6, Of Thunder Gods and Attachment_

* * *

 _name is Namikaze Minato, the fastest man alive._

I paused, taking in a deep breath filled with Konoha's woody-earthen scent and Kiri's damp undertones.

In my mind's eye I saw a flash of red hair-

My eyes snapped open.

-my sandaled foot _slapped_ on the ground as I _pumped_ twin threads of yin and _yang,_ _twisting_ them, _moulding_ them _-_

My legs _pulsed_.

The ground beneath my feet shrunk as the wind whistled in my ears, sharp and cutting.

My hand felt for the cold, heavy, cloth-bound handle of a certain kind of kunai.

I pumped chakra to my left hand, _yang_ rushing to my left pectoral as the muscle _contracted,_ flinging the kunai at speeds hundreds of times faster than most Jōnin could ever dream of achieving-

 _Fwish_

-in a flash of solid yellow light, I appeared in the air, my eyes never flinching despite the water building up in them.

I closed my eyes and _pulled_ my yin and yang apart, letting a thread of nature chakra in.

Then I pulled the three energies together and-

 _-forty-five percent yin, fourty five percent yang, ten percent natural energy-_

 _-Ten thousand people._

Two thousand shinobi-level signatures.

Nearly nine hundred shinobi outside the village's border.

Roughly one thousand one hundred within the border.

Eighteen thousand civilians.

I took a cheap, disposable shuriken, it's gleaming metal already covered in the black ink of my seal, and with a flick of my wrist-

 _Fwish_

-I closed my eyes and cut the natural energy as I ploughed through a hostile's head with all the grace of artillery fire.

A kunoichi barely out of her teens kneeled over, dead, her body's momentum carrying her to the forest floor where her body bent at an awkward angle, scarlet spray covering the tree trunks and dying my green flak jacket red.

My shuriken _thunked_ into a falling leaf, pinning it to a tree.

I was greeted by battle cries.

 _Fifteen shinobi_

My foot slapped against a tree, propelling me behind a Kumo shinobi in the blink of an eye, kunai slashing across his neck as he crumpled to the floor, arms lashing out to me futilely.

I dropped to the floor as his eyes rolled and his body slumped.

 _Fourteen shinobi_

A burly, white-haired man with dark skin and furious, wild eyes sprayed spittle as he yelled, rushing through hand seals.

Two beams of water stuck out quickly, glowing with lighting-

 _Storm release_.

I acted quickly, my hand forming a shell of chakra about the size of a man's torso, shielding it with heavy strands of _yang,_ within it malleable _yin_ spinning a hundred times a second with a low, deep rumble as I formed a chakra string, hooking onto a certain type of kunai on my belt. Flicking it forwards, I moulded chakra as I dissipated the sting.

 _Fwish_

The kunai lodged in his throat, cutting him off as he clawed weakly at me, his jutsu curving back as he held onto me with the last of his strength.

 _Fwish_

And blood splatter decorated the floor.

 _Thirteen shinobi_

Fwish.

 _Twelve_

 _Fwish_

* * *

Minato

It was nightfall by the time the supply teams were dead and the rest of the rapid response teams caught up to me, faces flushed as they shivered in the cold night air, frantic pants making little puffs of white, smoke-like air as they fumbled with their water-beakers.

The ANBU team simply pulled out their ration bars and water as they screened the area for intruders.

"Now" The room, full of snippets of chatter turned silent as my Commander spoke. "I am quite sure that you know of the -failed- invasion of our Konoha a little under half a week ago. However, as the ANBU and jōnin among us know, that was merely a smokescreen as Iwa, Kiri and Kumo directed the majority of their free troops elsewhere to one of, if not our closest ally."

He glared at a panting chūnin before returning his attention to us.

Soundlessly, an ANBU landed beside me as the area _glowed,_ powerful barriers rising into being with a solid, deep, resonating _Wahumph_ as small pebbles lifted into the air, a tiny cloud of chakra forcing them up.

"Chūnin" Two rows, a dozen people each, of generic, non-clan, completely _average_ shinobi stood up a little straighter.

"You will be providing defensive support to our medics."

The latter group, the only ones still sitting, legs crossed on the floor, briefly paused in wrapping linen into bandages before turning their minds back to their work.

"Jōnin"

Half a dozen tall, thinly built men, including myself, and another group of kunoichi of roughly the same number on the very edge of my vision did no more than nod.

"ANBU"

The sealmaster stood motionlessly as I felt more than twenty spikes of chakra in the shadows of the trees in the encampment.

"It's a frosty day. Move out"

And with a secondary spike at this obviously coded statement, the jōnin and ANBU troops, myself included, flickered away, the medics and their guards behind.

* * *

Satoru

My temple _throbbed_ with the pulse of my heart, shaking me out of my sleep with all the grace of an earthquake.

 _So, either a hangover, or a concussion_

I peeked an eye open at the _bright_ _ **to**_ _fuck_ _ **ingbr**_ _igh_ _ **t**_ before giving up with a whimper.

 _Fuck me_

I just wanna sleep! It's like Kakashi and I decided that two o'dark in the morning was just _perfect_ for trying to learn the _tsūga_ , all spinning, and face-hitting trees, and-

-the ground _rumbled,_ the deep, powerful vibrations jarring me awake as my yin set off to work, quickly healing the various scrapes and shite along with that god awful _thing_ that greeted me two seconds ago.

I was shaken awake as Mei and Ao put me down fairly gently on what appeared to be a rock.

Being 'six' probably had something to do with it.

I think.

 _Well, best not look a gift horse in the mouth_

I yawned, stretching my arms far above my head, my toes curling and uncurling "Where are we?" Around me was a pretty boring clearing, the trees thick but far between.

A bit like a crossbreed between the thick, close forest of Konoha and the thin, spindly, well-spaced trees of my…

 _Is it fair to call that my 'birthplace'? I mean, I came to life there._

Meh. Doesn't make a difference anyway.

"We are diverted from our intended path, Satoru-kun. Instead of travelling with you back to Kiri, we're going to go to meet up with some other troops in order to" She did something _close_ to hesitation, but not _quite_ "to ensure the safety of Kiri".

 _...What?_

"You're going to go on a slaughtering spree" I deadpanned "I'm not some sort of innocent, untouched, glitter-crapping patron of virtue."

Ao sighed.

"You're _six,_ and wherever you learnt how to speak like that, stop quoting from there. It gives the wrong impression."

Mei cocked an eyebrow, and waved him off "We're going to invade the lands of Whirlpools shinobi village, Uzu, and then go home and torture a war prisoner, some leafy."

I _froze_ , a thin chill travelling through me, a familiar voice filling my ears as I staggered-

* * *

 _"But if you touch my sons, I will show you the wrath that only a mother can"_

* * *

 _-nah. The chances are astronomical_

But still. Just in case.

"-Who?" I said, admittedly croakier than normal.

Ao rolled his eyes "I told you that you were out of your depth young man, and you didn't listen."

I glared.

"Some Inuzuka treehugger. Now, stop pestering me you damned brat."

Inu-

My mind raced a thousand points a second, _denying_ , denying, _hopelessly_ denying-

I tripped and fell to the floor, sweat beading on my forehead, as some thick, heavy thing, uniform in its pressure and unyielding in its weight set in.

 _Nononot_ _ **again**_ _againagain_ _ **notagain**_

 _Hibana isn't dead_

No

 _Hibana is worse than dead. She's a prisoner of war. She's a_ _ **female**_ _prisoner of war. A_ _ **female clan prisoner of war**_

And I know what that means.

"Are you alright, Satoru-kun?"

Mei seemed strangely concerned.

I waved her off, tense and trembling slightly.

"I'm fine. I just don't-" _Act like a babyactlikeababy_ "feel like better."

Mei snickered behind a convenient cough.

Ao glanced at me.

 _Ignore it itgoreignore_

"I -err meant well. I just don't feel like well."

A part of me laughed at my language.

It's curious how detached some parts of one's mind are, even in the most stressful of circumstances.

My brain whirred with thought,

 _Mei and Ao will hurt Hibana, I'm close to Mei and Ao-_

 _-but Mei and Ao are jōnins_

I like Mei, her saving my life and all that doesn't hurt. But-

 _-She isn't Hibana_

I shook my head, pulling myself together.

 _Now now. If I want to help her, even slightly, I need to pull myself together and_ _ **focus**_

I ignored the traitorous thoughts hissing _Leave her_

The thoughts hissing _They will never know if she is left behind_

 _They will never know if she is abandoned_

 _She will never know if she's abandoned_

 _It's better this way,_ they said.

 _It's better if we live and she dies_ , they said.

I turned a blind eye as I pulled myself to my feet, robotically joining Mei and Ao for a breakfast of bland, oaty biscuits and revolting nutrient supplements.

 _Damn it,_ I yelled, my voice echoing in the hollow areas of my mind.

I-I-

 _I think I've grown attached to them._

That's never a good thing.

 _That's never a good thing because I live and they willdiediedie_

I turned away from Mei and Ao as a hot trail ran down my face unbidden.

 _Again. And again. And again._

People say that they want to live forever, till the ends of the earth and more.

 _I used to say that I want to live forever, till the ends of the earth and more_

 _Fuck you Kakashi. Fuck you Pakkun. Fuck you Hibana, fuck you Sakumo, fu-_

"Satoru-kun" I _jerked_ instinctively, scratching my right ear with my left hand, elbow covering my face.

" Are you alright, Satoru-kun?"

I didn't say a word.

I didn't trust myself to.

* * *

Kakashi

Today was the first day of the Shinobi academy.

So, as per the rituals, Tou-san and I woke at five O'clock sharp in the morning, two hours before we needed to.

Tou-san ushered me down the stairs, his heavy but strong chakra covering my back as it radiated off him, passing my pre-packed bag as Tou-san grabbed two large plates of expensive sushi.

Climbing onto a clone, Tou-san and I disappeared in a silent flicker, appearing briefly outside our house before we flickered away, working out way over to the massive Hokage Monument in the distance.

The cold air hit my small frame like a blow to the gut, but I refused to shiver.

 _Shinobi stay strong in fire or ice, hot or cold, desert or ocean, dry or wet-_

-"Do you know why I called you here, Kakashi-kun?"

I looked into Tou-san's eyes and shook my head.

"Alright." He waved his hand, chakra flowing seamlessly to the ground as two soft mounds rose, before the two of us perched on them.

"How many shinobi are there in Konoha, Kakashi-kun?"

I looked at him, confusion clear in my eyes.

 _I guess it's just a test_.

"Between ten to twenty thousand"

"Correct, Kakashi-kun. Now, how many _retired_ shinobi do you know about?"

 _What?_

"There are approximately five thousand shinobi who are classed as 'retired'"

He reached into flak jacket, taking out a simple scroll.

"Yes. Did you know that at the end of the year, we'll only have one hundred and twenty-five, give or take a dozen or so, shinobi?"

I-

 _How is this relevant_

He chuckled at my expression.

"You see, Kakashi-kun, a veteran shinobi can never retire, everyone can recognise them, bounty-hunters included. So, to hide themselves, what can they do?"

I replied instantly "Conceal themselves"

Tou-san let out a knowing smile.

"Or?"

My brain kicked into overdrive.

"Conceal themselves before people know who they are"

Tou-san nodded, unsealing a small, blue, silken face-mask and gently tossing it to me as he held his hands up in a simple ram seal.

 _Puff_

Tiny tendrils of chakra smoke, thick but unusually dense covered his face for a split second before being blown away by a helpful gust of wind.

His face was the same. But his hair…

"Tou-san, your hair is-"

"Brown and curly, yes Kakashi-kun."

…

"You have an afro, Tou-san."

"A magnificent afro, Kakashi-kun."

"So, Tou-san" I paused, staring at the chocolate-brown, torso-sized afro before shaking my head "How did you do that? It's even on when you sleep so it isn't a henge"

Tou-san poked his bobbing afro a few times like a toddler examining a new toy before bothering to answer me "It's not a henge. It's a physical transformation, aided with seals, that is never reversed, even on death. Heck, it's effects are not reversed on the user's _soul_. So, even if it only affect facial hair, it's a powerful tool."

"But" I frowned "Anyone can tell who you are".

He smiled cockily.

"Unless I make myself a beard, Kakashi-kun. Unless the person viewing me is an Uchiha who bothered to memorize my face, I'm fine."

If it was befitting of a shinobi-in-training, I would have wailed.

"But why an _afro?"_

"Why not!, Kakashi-kun, Why Not!."

I held back a traitorous giggle.

* * *

 **Minato is a badass, Satoru is mildly depressing and Kakashi and Sakumo are** _ **not**_ **piles of pure angst!**

 **Anyway, I had to cut it off there because the only other way I could lengthen this while making this work properly is to insert a Pakkun POV, and that doesn't quite fit in here.**

 **There is a 90% chance that you'll see a Pakkun POV in the next chapter though, if that helps.**

 **Sorry about the short update after the long wait, but life is basically beating me to death, resurrecting me, and beating me again.**

 _ **Urgh**_

 **Really though, this was done in two sets of an hour. The whole thing. That's how much free time I had in a little over a week.**

 **I was tempted to post my pre-written chapter for a month+back, but the quality is worse there, as my improvements from chapter one don't magically shift over to there.**

 **See you next chapter, in [hopefully] one week. Sans accidental fake updates. Jae Nae!**

 **[Oh, and to my newly-growing reader base, you are** _ **wonderful**_ **,** _ **wonderful**_ **people!]**

 **(EDIT- 617 words through chapter seven at 17/9/2017)**


	7. The hiatus is over!

**AN: Hi guys/gals,**

 **I know what yer probably thinking: Who the** ** _heck_** **is this?**

 **Well, It's been months since my last update, so I don't blame ya.**

 **I've been able to get a computer. Now, while hiding my fanfiction with a fixed screen is damn harder than hiding a laptop, I can't have my computer physically confiscated from me.**

 **Since I have an actual mouse, using spellcheck is actually satisfying, and since this ain't a £30 laptop, it doesn't keep crashing. So writing is more fun.**

 **Updates will be slow. I ain't just managing this, I'm spending a lot of my emotional energy trying to help several friends through some traumatic experiences. So sorry if I'm not always on the top of my game. My marks in tests are skyrocketing, so my parents are more lenient (read: They are allowing me to go on the pc, even if they dislike me writing fanfiction to the point I have to hide it).**

 **By slow, I mean every few weeks. Perhaps I can get it to weekly eventually, but that's gonna take some months (Read: over time I'mma update** ** _faster)._**

 **I have decided to rewrite my fic, 'cause my old writing was bleeding into it far too much, and I didn't like the jerkiness of it.**

 **So, to compensate somewhat, here an absolutely epic, if slightly OOC (Note: K=Chibi-Kakashi hasn't seen his dad kill himself yet. He- even if he's a bit stuck uppy- is still a kid. Even if he doesn't want to admit it :P)**

* * *

" _The human body has 7 trillion nerves, and some people manage to get on every single fucking one of them"_

* * *

 _Chapter 7, Of Absolute Morons. And Glitter. Infernal, infernal glitter._

* * *

I glanced outside the classroom window as a single, brown-gold leaf detached itself from an old oak tree, a remnant of the pre-Konoha forest, before fluttering onto the frosty ground below.

I shook my head.

 _I need to be more shinobi-like. Concentration is key to becoming a good shinobi_

Fingers brushed a tattered, hand-me-down textbook- we had plenty of money, but tou-san was still a bit of a Scrooge- as I glanced at the next paragraph.

" _It's a well-known fact that the cornerstone of being a shinobi is obeying the shinobi rules-"_

I'm well on my way to being a shinobi- I know all three academy jutsu, multiple extra jutsu, and _all_ of the shinobi rules.

For example:

 _Shinobi are always vigilant_

 _Shinobi always follow orders without hesitation_

 _Shinobi must never defy their commanding officer_

And, most importantly,

 _Shinobi are nought but tools of their Hokage_

 _Shinobi are emotionless_

 _Shinobi react to nothing; shinobi are calm, shinobi are composed_

A loud voice blared out from behind me, something about a 'hokage' and a 'bestest sharingan'.

My eye twitched.

"Oi, sensai, _sensai!_ Why do I have to work with _Bakashi?!_ I work _waay_ better with Rin-chan, I promise! Right, Rin-chan?"

 _Shinobi react to nothing; shinobi are calm, shinobi are composed_

The idiot was met with muffled giggles from the Nohara girl.

"Rin-chaaan!" He slumped in his chair, forehead touching the table "You're ignoring me! I think " -cue a sniffle- " I'm going to cry! " -cue another melodramatic sniffle-. You could still see the childish glee in the twinkling of his eyes.

 _Shinobi react to nothing; shinobi are calm, shinobi are composed_

Rin was quick to sit up and start to console him before she caught on and they started both started to giggle.

 _Shinobi react to nothing; shinobi are calm, shinobi are-_

I paused.

 _-I'm not a shinobi yet_

I scoffed.

"If you keep up with this attitude, _dead last,_ you'll be dead before you reach chūnin."

And the magic was gone.

Obito did a one-eighty, his small grin turning into a mixture of shock and outrage

Clambering up onto his desk, he pointed a finger at me-

"Oi, Bakashi! I'm gonna be Hokage someday, _just you wait_ , and when I'm _Hokage_ , I'm gonna take your _ass_ and take a _meter ruler_ and-"

" _OBITO-KUN_ " The class fell silent as Seiji-sensei demolished Obito "Kakashi-kun was _right_ when he said that you'll die on the battlefields 'long before you reach chūnin', _young man_."

I almost winced. But then again, he deserved it.

Sensei grinned unpleasantly

"I believe that young Obito-kun has earned us a little grade-determining test today. Come on, my cute little students. Chop-chop."

* * *

My pant legs dampened from contact with the damp grass.

Fingers delicately grasped the ornate wooden brush, quickly and efficiently printing the rest of my name on the scroll, finishing my assignment.

 **カ** **Ka**

 **カ** **ka**

 **シ** **shi**

Sitting back, satisfied, I indulged myself in a stretch.

After all, stretching is good for flexibility…

 _I think_

A flake of soft, fluffy snow came to rest on my brow as I fell into thought.

I flicked it off, the fluffy material turning powdery before dampening my fingers.

 _Project: the analysis of a comrade_

The idiotic _thing,_ otherwise known as Uchiha Obito, was quick to label the source of our assignment his 'Rin-Chan'.

 _Pah_

Once more, I set out to write the description of her behaviour as the idiot was probably trying to find as many synonyms for 'pretty' as he possibly could.

I ignored the deafening shouting from my right until I, well, _couldn't_

"Obito-san" I paused, noting the-

… _is that glitter?_

-covering his forehead and hair.

He gave me a long, desperate look.

" _Shhhhh_ " He glanced around, lying flat on the floor "Shut up Kakashi"

Why? The source of our assignment was starting to look our way.

I was torn between _it's 'Kakashi-san', this is easily our longest interaction_ and _why is Obito-san covered in pastel pink... glitter?_

 _If Rin spotted Obito, she'd have said something_

I paused, again-

 _He's annoying, but-_

-my fingertips glowed lightly as I pushed _yin_ and _yang_ together, the energy seeping into the ground and gaining _solidity_ as I moulded the tiny spot of the world like putty.

 _The wall is only a few feet tall, but it should suffice_

Pushing minuscule traces of chakra to my feet, I lept sideways before _punting_ the young Uchiha behind my makeshift barrier.

" _Shut up and keep a small form"_

Then the strangest thing happened.

Obito's lips tightened as he gained an outraged expression- as if he as about to prepare an angry outburst- before reverting to a look of shock and awe.

 _What?_

"You-" He seemed to find it hard to articulate something "-helped- _helped_ me." He trailed off, expectedly.

I rose an eyebrow.

He huffed.

"C'mon tell me, why?"

My eyebrow rose higher, and, perhaps in a childish manner, I replied.

"Why what?"

Obito's face took a slightly red tinge.

 _Anger, or from a shattered pride?_

He mumbled something inarticulate. Raising a hand to my ear, I responded/

"What?"

Bit's of an 'm' and a 'elp' revealed themselves, but nothing much came out of his mouth.

"What?"

His face turned burning red.

"Why would _you_ help _me?_ "

I shrugged minutely.

"You are a comrade-in-arms. And as a fellow comrade-in-arms, it is my duty to help you."

He squinted.

"I smell something fishy, Kakashi"

 _Kakashi-san_

I glanced around, catching a nondescript academy student glancing at the remnants of the glitter and giggling under her breath.

 _No, wait, she isn't 'nondescript', she's an Inuzuka_

I stole a few glances at her as I finally put my finger on who she was.

 _Hold on a minute_

"Obito-san" I whispered "I don't think you need to be worrying about being caught by Rin-san"

He squinted, before peeking out.

His eyes widened comically as the blood drained out of his face.

"Rin-cha _aan_ , _whyyyy_ ".

She met his eyes and giggled under her breath, again.

My sixth sense blared into focus as her hand passed through a small stone - _Bushin-_ as I leap into the air, narrowly missing the rush of _something_ tinkling like a thousand streams of water, a thick, solid cylinder of tiny metallic objects.

I hit the ground hard, too wrapped up in analysis to remember to roll, before-

 _This isn't good_

-suddenly, my vision was clouded by a shower of sparkles as I swatted away at the air furiously.

Dismay covered my face as I glanced at my once-pristine outfit, _glitter_ , _infernal glitter_ covering _black camouflage gear._

 _Shinobi react to nothing; shinobi are calm, shinobi are composed_

Pure fear ran up my spine like icy-cold water.

A little tear definitely ran down my face as I patted my _glittery, sticky, matted_ _ **hair**_.

I saw red.

Pausing, I glanced at Obito, as Obito glanced at me.

Ignoring the little voice whispering _be a good shinobi_ , I started to think-

 _This is war, Rin-san_

* * *

My blade spun around my fingers with a fluidity that spoke of years of practice, a trail of white chakra following it as I _swung_.

Soundlessly, the tree shifted before me, split, before with a groan and a deep, resonating _th_ _ **u**_ _mp,_ crashing to the floor, trunk cut diagonally, starting from the left and moving upwards."And" I paused, gloated to thin air "I still have it"

 _Haha, guess what Jiraya? Fuck you. Fuck you and your 'grey hair'. Hypocrite_

I sheathed my sword as I turned around, the frosty autumn-come-winter air failing to bother me as I walked out of my wreckage.

 _That's about enough for today_

Automatically, as my shoulders slumped slightly, accompanying my relatively relaxed state, my mind drifted to my sole son.

There is no doubt that, even on the first day, Kakashi would find himself a place among the academy's highest scorers.

In fact, he might just surpass Orochimaru-san's scores in ninjutsu and taijutsu- Kakashi is nearly genin level in those two already.

As I flickered over to the academy's gates, me being among the first few parents here, I could already _see_ Kakashi, standing there, small smirk among his face as the rest of his class stared at him in pure awe, the teachers praising-

"Hatake-Kakashi, What do you have to say for yourself!".

 _Wait_

"Apologize, NOW"

"Well-"

 _WHAT_

 **AN: My re-write is going to be relatively fast- I'm definitely going to cut content from my last version of the fic. Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Jae Nae o7**


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